Pokémon XYZ: Dream Death Destiny
by Enterprise F
Summary: Over a year after his Kalos journey ended, Ash returns to Kalos and reunite with his friends there, and encounters a mysterious girl in the process. However, as he does so, he quickly gets caught up in a battle against a resurgent Team Flare, one whose outcome will have tremendous ramifications for the whole world. Has Amourshipping, but it's not the primary focus of the story.
1. Chapter 1

Legal Disclaimer: Pokémon is copyright Nintendo. I do not own it, Nintendo and Game Freak do. It and all of its characters are the property of Nintendo, Game Freak, and Satoshi Tajiri.

Pokémon XY: Dream Death Destiny

Chapter 1:

On a road in the north section of Lumiose City in the Kalos Region of France, a beautiful girl with black hair, which fell past her shoulders, and blue eyes walked down the street. She wore a sky blue sleeveless shirt over a black sleeveless undershirt and a red miniskirt. She gazed around at the sights and sounds but not really taking them in. Instead she seemed to be looking for a particular building. She was not here as a tourist. She was the World Pokémon League Champion, codenamed Leaf. She rarely ever gave out her real name and only she, her Pokémon friends, and a few others knew her true name. And she was not alone.

Walking by her side were her Pokémon friends, her six best friends and some of the few friends she ever had. The girl's team consisted of Venusaur, Tyranitar, Garchomp, Jolteon, Starmie, and Chandelure. Her first Pokémon was Venusaur, a Grass/Poison-type Pokémon. He resembled a cross between a toad and a dinosaur. He had dark blue-green skin with toad-like warts on its legs, but his most prominent feature was the large flower that had bloomed on his back. It was a red flower with six large petals with white spots on it, supported by a brown trunk that looked somewhat like a fat palm tree trunk. In addition, as a Bulbasaur, Venusaur had been Leaf's starter and was her most versatile and useful, and one of her strongest Pokémon, maybe tying with Tyranitar. As for Tyranitar, he was a large, menacing bipedal dinosaur-like Rock/Dark-type Pokémon with dark green armor, fangs, with its fingers and toes culminating into claws. A bluish gray diamond-shaped piece of armor covered its belly and it had a large number of spikes on its head, neck, back, and tail. Garchomp was a dark blue Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon with a red underbelly that covered most of its abdomen. Its head was shaped like that of a Hammerhead shark, and it had fins protruding from its arms. It also had a dorsal fin and a tail that looked like a fish's tail. Jolteon was a dog-like Pokémon with yellow fur that formed yellow spikes on its rear, and a white, spiky collar. The yellow fur could also gain the sharpness of needles. Starmie was a purple starfish-like Water/Psychic-type Pokémon with a red jewel in its center as its core jumped into the air and spun around as it floated onto the battlefield. And finally, Chandelure was a Ghost/Fire-type Pokémon that resembled a chandelier that hovered in the air; ghostly purple flames flickering on the four lamp-like structures on the sides of its head, as well as a flame coming up from the center of its head.

As Leaf walked down the boulevard, more than a few young teenaged boys' heads turned as she walked by, each of them looking at her appraisingly and finding her much to their liking. The girl, however, either did not notice or simply ignored them. The boys were also quick to notice that her Pokémon were out of their Poké Balls, all six of them. As such, not a small amount of apprehension was mixed into their staring. She did not just draw the attention of teenaged boys, though. Others also kept an eye on her, finding it strange, as well as disconcerting, that a Trainer would keep all six of her Pokémon outside of their Poké Balls, especially since several of them were quite large and obviously powerful in the extreme.

She soon stopped next to the famous Galette Stand for a moment and took out a small metal pad and tapped a button on it. Immediately, a text message appeared on the screen, written in English, Italian, and Japanese, each word, appearing in a different language when appropriate. It was evident that whoever had sent the girl the message had wanted it to be difficult for anyone but her to read, for Leaf had American, Italian, and Japanese heritage and was fluent in English, Italian, and Japanese. Her Pokémon friends came and looked over her shoulder as she studied the map. Apparently, they were close.

She pushed another button and a three dimensional hologram of the map sprang up from the pad and arrows formed above the map to show her the way to her destination. Following the arrows, the girl and her Pokémon friends were led to what looked to be relatively small, plain building. The girl raised her eyebrows in curiosity as well as suspicion and she was immediately on guard, for that building looked to be a good place for an ambush. Leaf immediately turned to Starmie and Chandelure.

"You two use Psychic to scan the surrounding area," she told the two Pokémon. "I don't want us to blunder into any ambushes."

The two Pokémon gave cries of affirmation and the jewel at the center of Starmie began to glow, as did Chandelure's eyes as they scanned the building, as well as the entire area for any sign of life. While Psychic did not give them clairvoyance into the building, itself, it _would_ allow them to sense the mind of anyone inside. Sure enough, the two Pokémon did, indeed, sense two minds inside, one male the other female. They sensed no hostility emanating from them. Instead, they appeared to be in the throes of passion with each other. They relayed the information to Leaf, who shrugged.

She took out the message and map once more and checked the address to make sure that they were in the right place. Sure enough, the message gave explicit instructions that the building where she was to meet the individual who had sent this invitation _was_ a deserted building with no sign on North Boulevard. And the building she and her team were standing just outside of fit that description to a T. She checked the message once more to see if there was any indication of who may have sent the message. It merely stated that the person was a friend and that there would be others coming to the meeting. Stuffing the message and map back into her bag, she took out an unused Poké Ball, a good makeshift ranged weapon in a pinch, gripped the doorknob, and slowly pulled the door open without making a sound, allowing her and her Pokémon friends inside.

Leaf stepped inside the building and immediately looked around. Much as the message had described, the building appeared to be deserted. The building had a single wooden table a little off center lined by four chairs. There were other chairs situated throughout the room as well. There was also an HD TV mounted on the wall. It did not appear to be connected to any outlet, but she suspected that it was still operational. There were no decorations on the walls but there was a small hallway that looked to lead deeper into the building.

Pointing to Starmie and Jolteon, she used hand signals to call them to her while directing the others to take point at the door. She intended to make certain that this entire building was clear of any potential hostiles. She did not like the setting one bit. She hoped to rely on Starmie's Psychic to scan the area to help her find the two minds that were inside the building, the girl hoping that they were merely house mice or other rodents, rather than humans or Pokémon that may have wanted to start a fight. Jolteon was there to cover Starmie since he knew Signal Beam, a Bug-type move that was super effective against Dark-type Pokémon, Starmie's primary weakness.

Leaf followed the pathway back into another section of the building. As they walked down the short hallway, they could hear two voices speaking. "Come on, someone could see us," came an obviously female voice. She sounded young, no older than fifteen or sixteen at the oldest.

"Don't worry, baby," came the voice of a teenage boy of the same age. "We're in the back of an abandoned building. No one's gonna come in here."

Leaf then heard what could only be described as a loud kiss. The sounds of kissing and sighing then permeated the hallway and likely the back room.

Leaf stopped at the sounds of the voices could only give a shrug when hearing the audible kissing and sighing, echoed by Jolteon and Starmie. "Great," she muttered, something that was rare for her, "we've stumbled onto a salacious date." Jolteon and Starmie nodded and sighed as Leaf also sighed and then told them, "Well, we'd better make sure it's actually a date and not something more sinister."

Jolteon agreed, though Starmie scanned the two minds surreptitiously and quickly relayed the information back to Leaf, who almost recoiled as she received the information. She then glared at Starmie. "I don't need the scandalous details, thank you," she told the Pokémon sarcastically. She then wasted no more time and headed into the back room to break up the date so that she and her Pokémon would truly be alone when the meeting began.

The back room was in essence a utility room with a washing machine, dryer, and an electric heater. Leaning on the heater were two teenagers, a boy and a girl. They looked to be sixteen years old or so. The boy had brown hair, blue eyes, and was of medium height for a boy of his age. He wore a light blue short-sleeved shirt and blue jeans. The girl was someone that Leaf had seen on television in passing while watching a PokéVision promotional video in passing. Her name was Aria. She was the same height as the boy. She had red hair that fell past her shoulders with two curls at the ends that curled upwards. She also had what looked to be red eyes and was wearing a white sleeveless shirt with fluffy frills on the straps and black pants. Both teens were less than pleased to see the eleven year old Leaf, who would have been twelve tomorrow, staring at them with a mixture of shock and embarrassment.

"No one would find us, huh Hiro?" Aria blurted sarcastically, turning to her boyfriend and scowling.

"How was I supposed to know that this girl would play in an abandoned building?" Hiro retorted.

"Ugh," Aria groaned, throwing up her hands. She then grabbed him and pulled him by the hand, saying, "Come on, let's go." As she left, she looked back at Leaf and glared, warning, "You better not tell anyone about this." She then dragged Hiro out of the back room and out towards the exit. In the main room, the Pokémon standing guard over the room parted as Aria and Hiro rushed out of the building, each of them going in opposite directions as they departed.

Leaf simply shrugged as the girl departed the building with her boyfriend. She did not know why they ran in opposite directions but thought back on her trip to Kalos and her seeing Aria perform in a performance with her fox-like Fennekin. She had ignored the performance since she abhorred singing but she could not help but think that the Aria that had rushed out of the building was the same Aria she had seen on the TV. Considering the fact that Aria was an idol of some sort, she suspected that if it were discovered that she was involved with a boyfriend, it would be scandalous to say the least.

Turning back to Starmie, she directed, "Scan the area once more. I want to make sure that that girl and her boyfriend were the only ones here."

Starmie did as she directed and its core glowed as it scanned the entire building and the surrounding areas for anyone else. While there were people in the building across the street at the Sushi High Roller, no one seemed to be out of the ordinary. As for the vacant building they were currently in, Starmie sensed no one else inside, which it quickly relayed to Leaf. Since they were finally alone, Leaf finally relaxed a bit, going over to the table and taking off her bag and placing it on the table. She then sat in one of the chairs and took out a datapad that had the history of Kalos and the rest of the Pokémon World on it. She decided that now would be a good time to catch up on her studies since she had not gotten much opportunity to do so on the planes. Soon, though, a question appeared in her mind, almost certainly from either Starmie or Chandelure.

[What do you want us to do while we wait for whoever it is who gave us these instructions to meet us?]

Leaf looked over at Starmie and Chandelure and narrowed her gaze on them sternly. She then gave her answer. "Starmie and Chandelure, you two keep watch. The message indicated that there would be others coming to this meeting. I want to know when someone is approaching. As for everyone else, you should take the time to prepare for whatever may come. Discuss strategy amongst yourselves, train, spar; I don't really care. I'll be catching up on my studies and training for the time being. Just be careful. If this does turn out to be a Watchmen or Team Rocket trap, we don't want to be caught flatfooted."

The Pokémon nodded and they went about their assignments. Starmie and Chandelure went over to the door and kept their psychic senses open, Chandelure going up to the second floor so as to not be easily visible to anyone who may be looking for them. As for Venusaur and the others, they decided to break off into groups of two and do some light training while Leaf read up on her history as well as the map of Lumiose City. As she read, she decided that once the meeting, assuming there was one, was over, that she would have to visit some of the sights of the city, particularly this Stone Emporium that sold something called Mega Evolution stones.

For the next hour, Leaf caught up on her studies and Starmie and Chandelure kept watch while the rest of her Pokémon team trained with one another, Venusaur sparring with Garchomp while Jolteon sparred with Tyranitar. None of the Pokémon went anywhere close to all out against one another and all of the matches ended in draws, or went down to points. Venusaur was primarily training in his agility while Garchomp was eager to train not only in close combat, which was her strong point, but also in some ranged combat by using attacks like Stone Edge. She would not dare use a technique like Earthquake inside a building, even at low levels, a lesson that Tyranitar was ignoring as he could scarcely score a hit on the incredibly speedy and agile Jolteon. While Earthquake was, indeed, a powerful attack, even at low power, it could also be dangerous to use inside a building, especially a vacant one like this that may have had structural issues. Leaf was quick to point that out to Tyranitar.

"Tee-Tar, don't use Earthquake inside the building," she admonished, looking up from her datapad. "Even at low levels, Earthquake could damage the building and increase the risk of it collapsing."

Tyranitar disagreed and was vocal in his disagreement, though Leaf and the others knew that it was because he was annoyed at being consistently outmaneuvered by Jolteon. His growls translated into, [I can control my attacks just fine. I just need to train and score a hit on Jolteon!]

Leaf could only laugh. "Well, hit Jolteon with another technique. Try something like Stone Edge, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, or Crunch."

Tyranitar merely grunted and growled, which caused Leaf to chuckle. Tyranitar's issue was the fact that Jolteon was too fast for him and could evade all of his other moves. Only Earthquake, which was an area effect move, could hit Jolteon since Jolteon still needed to run in order to evade Tyranitar's attacks. Leaf then turned to Tyranitar and told him, "Or maybe you could focus on improving your reaction time so that Jolteon and other Pokémon of that speed won't outmaneuver and embarrass you."

Tyranitar seethed at Leaf's appraisal of his lack of speed and roared in rage. He then turned to face Leaf, pointing at her and challenging her to a fight. Leaf, for her part, calmly looked over at him and smirked. "You don't want to do this," she warned. "Fighting me won't solve your issues. But if you need a demonstration, I'll be glad to show you what I mean."

Tyranitar roared and charged towards Leaf, rampaging towards the girl. Leaf stood up from her chair and assumed a fighter's stance. She waited for Tyranitar to come in a little closer before stepping out of the way and sticking her foot out. The massive Pokémon tripped over her foot and began to stumble forward, the Pokémon struggling to maintain his balance. Leaf then lowered her shoulder and rammed him, shoulder first. While she was far lighter than he was, her charge was still enough to knock him off balance and cause him to fall. He then fell to the floor face first, causing the entire building to shake as he fell. He slid across the floor a few feet before coming to a stop, the Pokémon seething with rage and embarrassment. Leaf went over to the Pokémon and stooped down so she could talk to him.

"Your real issue Tyranitar is that you let your emotions control you, rather than you controlling them." She let that statement sink in for a moment before continuing, "If you had not charged at me like that, you would not have given me the opportunity to trip you and knock you down. You must be in control of yourself when you fight, otherwise your enemy will defeat you again and again."

Tyranitar gave a growl but was beginning to calm down and he slowly stood up. He looked over at Leaf and then at Jolteon. "Control your emotions, and then focus on improving your reaction time," she counseled. "Then you'll be in a far better position to deal with opponents like Jolteon. Remember, official Pokémon battles only allow for four moves, so you may not always get the chance to use something like Earthquake."

Tyranitar nodded and then went back to work training with Jolteon, doing his best to take Leaf's advice. It was still difficult to hit Jolteon, but Jolteon was not making much headway against him, either. Leaf gazed approvingly at Tyranitar and Jolteon's sparring match. Her reverie was soon interrupted by Starmie and Chandelure sending her telepathic images. The images of a large brown ape wearing a single red necktie with the letters DK written on it and a monkey with a red tank top with yellow stars on it and a red cap appeared in her mind. Starmie and Chandelure indicated that neither of them had hostile intentions but that they were studying the building.

Leaf soon turned to the others and told them, "Guys, we may be having some company soon. Be ready for anything but don't engage anyone unless they initiate combat first."

The Pokémon nodded and took up defensive positions around the room so that if whoever was coming was hostile, they would be in for a fight that they would never forget. They soon heard the doorknob turn and the door was pulled open. Then, the duo entered the building, revealing themselves to be the ape and monkey that Starmie and Chandelure had alerted them to. Leaf took one look at the large ape and instantly recognized him as being Donkey Kong from Donkey Kong Isle. She likely figured that the monkey next to him was Diddy Kong. While she had not met Donkey Kong personally, she had learned of him from Mew since he was also an enemy of Elric, and later Cyrus and the Watchmen and had seen pictures of him since the death of Elric.

Once Donkey and Diddy Kong entered the building, they glanced around and quickly spotted Leaf and her Pokémon friends. "Looks like we're not the only ones invited," Diddy said, looking over at Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong looked over at Leaf and asked, "So, were you told to come to a meeting here by some mysterious person?"

Leaf did not personally know Donkey Kong but had heard that he fought for the side of good. "Did you get an invitation on a metal datapad?" she asked, holding up her datapad, displaying the message.

Donkey Kong produced his own datapad that displayed the same message that had been delivered to Leaf, only it was written fully in English. The message read:

 _To Donkey Kong,_

 _This message is directed to Donkey Kong and his friend Diddy Kong. There is a threat that is coming in the future and you will be some of the heroes needed in order to fight it. Come to the vacant building just south of North Boulevard in Lumiose City in the Kalos Region of France. We will meet there to discuss the situation. I cannot say more at this time for fear of the letter being intercepted. Just know that your presence at this meeting will be of great importance._

 _P.S. Come prepared to fight on the chance that a trap is set._

Just as with Leaf's letter, there was no signature or return address. After they had shown each other their letters, they put their letters away. "So, who are you?" Donkey Kong asked.

"My codename is Leaf," Leaf answered. "I don't know you well enough to give you my real name yet. May I ask your name?"

"I'm Donkey Kong," Donkey Kong answered. "My friends call me DK. My friend over there is Diddy Kong," the ape continued, pointing over to Diddy. "I hope that we can be close enough friends for you to feel safe in telling us your true name."

Leaf smiled. "Me too," she said. She then proceeded to introduce her Pokémon friends to the Kongs. Her Pokémon nodded and gave cries, introducing themselves as well. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong also introduced themselves to the Pokémon as well, giving friendly smiles as they introduced themselves. Once all of the introductions were made, Leaf and the others sat back and relaxed, waiting for any other attendees to come to the meeting place, or even for the person who called them together to finally make an appearance.

The group waited for a while longer to see if anyone else would show up, or if the person that had summoned them would appear. As they waited, they each passed the time doing their own thing. The Pokémon began sparring once more, trying to keep themselves sharp for the Battle Maison competition that Leaf was going to participate in after the meeting. Leaf read up on the history of Pokémon, particularly the first confirmed sightings of Pokémon and where they were sighted. While she had heard of legends and myths of Pokémon appearing in ancient times, but they were few and far between. She had noted that there had been no listings of Pokémon in biological taxonomies until the mid twenty-first century.

As for the others, Donkey Kong was taking the time to play a Nintendo 3DS system while Diddy Kong was listening to music on a boom box. Rock music and heavy metal was blaring from the player, making it difficult for Leaf to concentrate. Even Donkey Kong seemed to be getting a little distracted, though he did not show it. Leaf, however, had no such reservations.

"Could you please turn that down a bit?" Leaf asked Diddy. "I'm finding it difficult to concentrate."

"Oh, sorry," Diddy answered, not realizing that the music was distracting her. He then lowered the volume so that while it was still audible, it was not distracting her or Donkey Kong. The group then went back to doing what they had previously been up to.

During the next hour, they continued to read, play a game, or listen to music. Periodically, Diddy would look over at Leaf, his gaze not leaving her for several moments until she raised her eyes and glanced about the room, her eyes eventually coming over to meet his. Whenever she would get back to reading, Diddy would continue to stare at the girl until she would look over at him, as if feeling his eyes on her.

Diddy continued to do this for most of the hour until Leaf sat up and closed her eyes for a bit as if meditating, but in reality, was trying to strongly think so that Starmie and Chandelure would pick up on her thoughts. She wondered if they sensed anyone else coming to this meeting or if this was nothing more than a gigantic waste of time. Their replies indicated that they did not sense anyone else coming at the moment but that there was some energy emanating from an area not too far away. Leaf decided to tell Starmie to keep watch on it while Chandelure continued to scan for anyone else that may be coming. Once that was finished, she sat back down and continued reading her pad.

Diddy once more gazed at her, this time his gaze seemed almost longing, as if he had a crush on her. Leaf must have felt his gaze, for her head practically snapped over in his direction as she looked back at him.

"Is something wrong? Is there something growing on me or something?" she asked.

"Oh, no, nothing," the monkey answered sheepishly as he went back to listening to his music.

"Just so you know, I'm eleven," Leaf informed him, causing his eyes to go wide and face to go red with embarrassment.

"And he already has a girlfriend," Donkey Kong added, looking up from his game. "Dixie'll kill you if you actually have a thing for Leaf," the ape added, only partially joking.

After a while, Diddy got up and headed on over to Leaf. He jumped up onto the table and looked over at one of the datapads that Leaf had been reading. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm catching up on schoolwork," Leaf answered. "Despite being a Pokémon Trainer, I still have responsibilities for keeping up with my education. A Pokémon journey is no substitute for an education."

"Huh, I thought Pokémon Trainers got a leave of absence from school," Donkey Kong chimed in.

"Technically, they do," Leaf acknowledged. "But that doesn't mean that you aren't responsible for learning essential reading, writing, history, math, and science. You have to show that you have the skills necessary for getting the job you want. Not everyone becomes a League Champion. If you don't have the proper education, good luck getting a job, especially in United Earth."

"And what subject are you studying now?" Diddy asked.

"The history of Pokémon," the girl answered. "I have to say, though, this is part of a personal project for me as well."

"What's your project?" the Kongs asked.

"To find out the true history of Pokémon," came the girl's answer. "While there are myths and legends involving Pokémon dating back thousands of years, the first certifiable recordings of Pokémon actually appeared in the mid twenty-first century shortly before the end of World War Three and the beginning of the War Against the PSI Aliens. I want to know why, if Pokémon existed for thousands if not millions of years, there are no historical records of them before that point in time."

"And what do you think?" Donkey Kong asked.

Leaf gave a knowing smile. "My theory is that Pokémon did not come into existence as a species until the mid twenty-first century and were engineered in labs in Japan. It makes sense. They originally appeared in Japan and gave Japan a fighting chance against China and Russia during World War Three. In addition, that is when Pokémon began to come into prominence. As for why there are legends of Pokémon from thousands of years ago, during the War Against the PSI Aliens, not everyone stayed and fought. After a few initial costly victories, when the PSI Aliens started taking the militaries of Earth marginally seriously, things got bad. It was looking terrible and a lot of people believed that humanity would not survive on Earth and that its only chance was to evacuate. Some are said to have left for other worlds and/or dimensions. Others are said to have gone to the past. I think that may have happened with some people and Pokémon.

"To escape extinction, they went to the past, but were so few in number it took a long time for them to be found. It also explains the legends of a great weapon being built in Kalos three thousand years ago, a weapon that destroyed the entire region. As you know, people were using bronze swords back then. They didn't have the knowledge on how to build, from what I could tell, is a modified planetary defense plasma cannon. Even more, I found references to such a weapon being used against Giygas in the War Against the PSI Aliens, to no effect. Giygas then disabled the weapon but did not destroy it, apparently intending to study it. That was shortly before the miracle occurred and three powerful psychics appeared from nowhere, freed Jeff Andonuts, and fought Giygas, defeating him and then destroying the alien fleet, saving Earth."

"Interesting," both Kongs said as they looked over Leaf's shoulder to catch a glimpse of what she was reading. Leaf continued to read and Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong went back to their own activities.

An hour went by before they heard the signs of anyone else coming to the building. When that hour was up, they heard the whine of engines coming down the street, the sound coming to a stop shortly after it had begun. It was not the sound of any ground car, though. It was the sound of a hovercar of some sort, meaning that whoever was driving it was likely from United Earth, since the Pokémon World hardly ever used hovercars. Besides, Leaf immediately recognized the sound as belonging to an F-Zero machine.

She shot up at the sound of the machine's arrival. She was an avid fan of F-Zero racing, loving the excitement and the breathtaking speed of the machines as they rocketed through the tracks. She watched the Grand Prix races on television whenever she got the opportunity to do so. Her favorite racer was Captain Falcon, the current Grand Prix Champion and also a famous bounty hunter. Like Samus Aran, he only took on just causes.

She went over to the door only to see it pulled open. Standing in the door was a tall man wearing a purplish-blue formfitting racing suit with a single pauldron with an opaque visor and a red helmet that had a golden bird, likely representing a falcon in the middle. Leaf's eyes practically lit up and sparkled at the sight of the F-Zero racer, who was none other than Captain Douglas Jay Falcon, current F-Zero Grand Prix Champion and famed bounty hunter. Captain Falcon took one step inside and looked around, seeing on the star-struck and possibly infatuated girl, as well as an ape and a monkey. He instantly recognized Donkey Kong, though, and the Kong immediately recognized him as well.

"Hey, Captain Falcon, I didn't expect to see you come to this meeting," Donkey Kong greeted.

"And I didn't expect to see you here, either," he answered, holding up his datapad, showing Donkey Kong and the others that he had received the same message. "I take it this is why we are here."

Donkey Kong and the others nodded. They then proceeded to introduce themselves. "I'm Diddy Kong, DK's best friend," Diddy stated, coming over to meet him.

"Nice to meet you," Captain Falcon said, shaking the monkey's hand. "I've heard great things about you from Donkey Kong." Diddy immediately suppressed a blush. The F-Zero racer then looked over at Leaf and asked, "And who might you be?"

As for Leaf, she could scarcely manage to stammer a response; she was so surprised and star-struck at the sight of her favorite F-Zero racer. "My code-n-n-name is Leaf," she barely managed to eek out, still managing to keep her real name a secret. Then, she burst forth. "You are my favorite F-Zero racer! I've seen all of your Grand Prix races!" She continued to lavish praise on him for the next few of minutes, leaving the captain a little bewildered.

"Uh, thank you, Leaf was it?" he eventually said after she had stopped to catch her breath.

"Mm-hmm," Leaf nodded exuberantly, her smile not disappearing at all.

"It's her codename," Diddy Kong added, prompting Leaf to turn to him and scowl, causing the smaller Kong to recoil and to shrink back into his chair.

Captain Falcon then made his way over to the table where Leaf had been sitting, prompting the girl to rush over to her own chair. As he went over, Venusaur and Tyranitar came over to Leaf and poked her in the ribs, saying something in their own language, chuckling all the time, that was easy enough for her to translate. They were making fun of her reaction to Captain Falcon's appearance, as if she had a schoolgirl crush on him. She turned and scowled, though a blush got through, prompting the two Pokémon to laugh and rib her further.

When Captain Falcon went over to his chair, he did not immediately sit down. He looked around the room and then asked, "So, does anyone know who summoned us here?"

Everyone shook their heads. "No," Donkey Kong answered. "My message simply told me to come here since there was a threat coming and that we would be some of the heroes needed in order to fight it."

"Mine said the same thing," Leaf added, managing to speak and act normally around the F-Zero racer.

"So do you think anyone else is coming?" the F-Zero racer eventually asked.

The others merely shrugged. "Don't know," Donkey Kong answered. "But I can tell you one thing; if someone doesn't tell us why we're here soon I'll be headin' back to DK Isle. I'm missing game night with Cranky, Candy, Dixie, and Funky."

"Yeah, and I'm also planning to head over to the Battle Maison when this is over," Leaf added. She then glanced over to Venusaur and Tyranitar and added, "I _might_ be taking my full team," leaving open the possibility that she would challenge it with two empty spots, almost certainly previously held by Venusaur and Tyranitar. The Pokémon got the joke, though. Both she and they knew that they were her two strongest team members so there was no way she would keep them away from a tournament at the famed Battle Maison, would she? Either way, the Pokémon stopped chuckling and teasing Leaf and instead waited to see if anyone else was going to show up. Still, Leaf had a suspicion that the quartet that was assembled here might be the entirety of the group.

As if on cue, the datapads that had their messages on them lit up. They each took out their datapad and looked at it. The message read, _Place the datapads on the table in a triangle formation_.

Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Captain Falcon, and Leaf looked at each other apprehensively, wondering if this was some sort of trap. Remembering the exploits of Captain Falcon, she suspected that the F-Zero racer probably had a bounty on his head from the criminal underworld, and Leaf knew for a fact that Team Rocket had placed a substantial bounty on her head. Still, something told her that it was safe for her to do as the instructions told her to. As such, she placed her datapad down on the table in front of her. The others then did likewise, Donkey Kong being the last. Once the datapads were placed in a triangle pattern, there was a brilliant flash of light and, as one, each of the occupants inside the entire building, human, simian, and Pokémon alike fell asleep as if they had been hit with a Spore attack. As they were rendered unconscious, three beams of light were being emitted by the datapads.

After a few minutes, the group awakened, disoriented and looking around. Before doing anything else, they made certain that they were inside the same building. Their location was confirmed when Starmie and Chandelure came down from the upstairs of the building and confirmed that only a few minutes had passed and that there was no residual issues, the images and feeling being communicated to everyone present via telepathy. Still, that gave them little comfort.

"Okay, so what happened just now?" Diddy Kong asked, still feeling disoriented at having been put to sleep by the datapads.

"Stun grenades can put people to sleep but they're orbs and the stun field generator can't be made as thin as a datapad," Captain Falcon answered.

"We were asleep for only a few minutes," Leaf added. "According to Starmie and Chandelure, nothing happened while we were out since we're still in the building and they can't sense anything strange outside."

"Still, I don't like this," Donkey Kong said ominously.

As soon as he had said that, the three datapads each shot up beams of light into the air, the beams converging on each other and forming a hologram in the center of the table. The hologram showed a man dressed in a black bodysuit with a black helmet with an orange visor covering his face. The man looked almost identical to a United Earth Stealth Marine.

"Greetings, everyone," the man began, bowing before them. "Now that we are all together, let us come to the point of our meeting. Captain Douglas Jay Falcon, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Leaf. Chosen Heroes," the figure proclaimed. "You have been summoned here because there is a threat to this world that must be dealt with. I had hoped to bring in a few more heroes, but they are indisposed at the moment and time is likely of the essence so we'll have to make do with what we have." Captain Falcon and Donkey Kong figured that the person in the hologram was referring to Samus Aran and Mewtwo, the former of which was off fighting in the Galactic Federation Civil War off world, likely on Aether at the moment since the Galactic Federation was trying to bring the Luminoth to heel since they were working with the Federation in Exile.

The figure then continued, "As stated before, you have been summoned because there is a threat to this world. Dark forces are gathering on world. With the Federation in Exile, United Earth, and even the Pokémon World focusing on dealing with Cyrus and the Galactic Federation, many people are not focusing on problems that may be happening on world. And that is part of the problem right now. Neither I, nor my benefactors, know what is coming or even _when_ it is coming. The threat could already be on Earth. It could even originate on Earth. All we know is that there _is_ something that is either there or is coming and that whatever is coming threatens the entire world."

Images then began to appear on the datapads. The faces of numerous individuals appeared on each of the datapads. Each of the heroes present recognized their own faces, as well as that of close friends. Captain Falcon recognized the face of Samus Aran, Fox McCloud, and Falco Lombardi. Donkey Kong recognized the faces of Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Yoshi, but were surprised that they were mentioned here. Leaf also recognized not only her own face, but that of a boy named Ash Ketchum, the girl almost being taken aback by his appearance on the list. She also recognized the face of other humans such as Ethan, Lyra, May, Dawn, Hilbert, and Hilda in passing, having heard of them and their feats, but they were of little concern to her. She also saw a few other faces on the list that she did not recognize. They were each labeled, though. One of them was a brown-haired boy name Nate, another was a girl with brown pigtails named Rosa. There was also a boy with short black hair and gray eyes named Calem, along with a girl with honey blond hair that fell below her shoulders and blue eyes named Serena.

"These are also potential Chosen Heroes," the figure informed them. "They have not yet faced their trials, but they may be called upon to do so in the future. They may be targets of enemy forces. Keep your eyes and ears open. I know that this is annoying, not being able to identify the threat that we all will face, but you must bear with me. The threat is real and you are the only ones in a position to stop it when it comes." With that, the hologram vanished and the room was quiet.

It took a few moments for the group to react to the message. Eventually, after taking everything in, Donkey Kong started the conversation. "So, what does everyone think?" He could think of nothing else to say, his mind was still trying to take it all in and decide what should be done.

"It's pretty tough to fight an enemy that you can't even identify," Captain Falcon said. "Still, I don't think we can simply ignore this."

"Yeah, but why us?" Leaf asked. "We're a Kanto Pokémon League Champion, an F-Zero Grand Prix Champion, slash, bounty hunter, albeit without a powerful armored suit, and an ape and monkey, albeit a strong ape and monkey. Why not go to United Earth or even the Federation in Exile? The Federation in Exile has some pretty powerful allies. They could help with this."

"I'm with you," Diddy Kong added, nodding towards Leaf. "This seems a little farfetched."

"The hologram did indicate that he, and whoever he was working with, had hoped for some other heroes to show up, likely Mewtwo and/or Samus Aran," Captain Falcon stated. "Since they're not here, we may be the only line of defense against whatever is coming."

"What about those other Chosen Heroes?" Diddy Kong asked.

"What about them?" Captain Falcon replied. "All we got were first names and some faces. There are plenty of Nates, Rosas, Calems, and Serenas all throughout the world."

"Yeah, but we were called to Kalos for this meeting," Leaf interjected. "Why is that?"

"I don't know," Captain Falcon answered. "On the United Earth map, Kalos is the northern half of France."

"Then maybe we should remain here for a time," Leaf suggested. "Our allies should be able to handle any of our rogues galleries while we're gone."

"Those that are still left," Diddy Kong muttered. K. Rool had not been heard from for a long time, the Tikis were either destroyed or in full retreat, as were the Snowmads."

"And Black Shadow is currently in jail," Captain Falcon added.

"Team Rocket is also in shambles, though the authorities aren't doing enough to take them in and rumors do indicate that Giovanni has returned to leading them," Leaf stated.

"You think this could be a ruse by Giovanni?" Captain Falcon asked.

Leaf shook her head. "Team Rocket may say they want to take over the world but they're an organized criminal organization. Their first motive right now is profit. Anyway, I do think we should take a look around Kalos and learn more about the customs and lifestyle around here. It is a Pokémon region so it should have a Gym Battle Challenge and a Pokémon League at the very least. Besides, since we were called to Kalos, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the names we saw on that list turned out to be from Kalos."

"That would make sense," Captain Falcon said, standing up.

Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong agreed. "So I guess we should stay here for a while," Donkey Kong said. He then looked over at Leaf. "So, do you know any good fruit stands or ice cream places here? I could really go for a massive banana split and a banana shake."

"Make that two," Diddy called.

Leaf immediately got out her map of Kalos and activated it. "It looks like there's a café just east of Hibernal Avenue. Come, follow me."

Leaf then took her message datapad and put it in her bag. She then walked out of the vacant building, followed by her Pokémon. As always, Starmie and Chandelure kept their senses open in order to alert her and the others to any potential ambushes. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong then looked at one another, smiling, before following the girl out of the building. Captain Falcon was last to depart the building, closely following the others.

Meanwhile, standing inside a hotel room, a man dressed in a black bodysuit with a fully enclosed black helmet with an orange visor stood up and removed his helmet, revealing himself to be a man that looked to be in his early thirties with short black hair and blue eyes. He went out onto the balcony and placed an orb on a white plastic table. He looked down to see the Chosen Heroes that had attended the meeting in the vacant building walking towards Café Ultimo. He then opened he orb, revealing a small square-shaped drone. A simple rotor rose from the drone and soon began to spin, allowing the drone to take off. The man then proceeded to take out a small tablet that looked to be a holographic emitter, for the images of the surrounding area of Northern Boulevard came into being.

After the image seemed to scroll, indicating that the camera was moving, it soon stopped and focused in on Leaf, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Captain Falcon entering the café. Just before they had entered, Donkey Kong had asked, "I hope they accept Banana Coins."

"Don't worry about it DK," Leaf answered, using Donkey Kong's nickname. "This is my treat."

The man smiled at Leaf's generosity. It appeared as if she were making friends with the others quite rapidly. He was pleased to see her finally have some more human friends. During his study of the girl, the only humans that were actually close enough to her to be her friends were the Kanto Elite Four member and Johto Champion Lance, and the Sinnoh League Champion Cynthia. He proceeded to continue watching them, ensuring that the connection between his Holo Caster and the camera was secure and that no one could eavesdrop on him. He had expected another person of interest to him to show up not too long from now and, as such, he simply sat back and waited, hoping that Leaf and the others would find whatever trouble was coming and stop it, assuming that he was unable to do so, himself.

Back down on the street, the group made their way towards Café Ultimo. As they were walking, the group made their way past an airfield to the north. As they were walking, Leaf stopped for a second almost as if sensing something.

"My gosh," she muttered. "It can't be…" She then let it go at that, leaving the others to go ahead of her. Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Captain Falcon made their way towards the café. From the outside, the café had a maroon roof and its doors were wide open to visitors.

While the others entered the café, Leaf's Pokémon friends remained outside with her, following her gaze towards an airliner that had just landed. The boarding hatch was open and a set of stairs had already been set up next to the hatch. Standing at the top of the stairs was a boy the same age as Leaf. He had spiky black hair, hazel eyes, and wore a blue short-sleeved collared shirt with white stripes down the front and side. Part of his black undershirt could be seen in the opening at the neck. He also wore darker blue jeans and red high top sneakers. He also wore a red hat with a white Poké Ball design on it. He also had a green backpack with a white, slanted Poké Ball design on it. Standing next to him was Pikachu, a small yellow rodent-like Pokémon with brown stripes on his back, round red cheeks that could store electricity, long pointed ears with black tips, and a lightning bolt shaped tail.

The moment the boy stepped out, he stood tall and proclaimed in as loud a voice as he could muster, "Heeey Kalos Region! Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town is finally here!"

"Pika pika," Pikachu echoed.

"Oh please no," Leaf stammered distantly with dread.

She soon noticed that Donkey Kong had stepped back outside to see why she had not come into the café. "Everything okay?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah, sure," Leaf answered sheepishly, directing Donkey Kong to the café's entrance, "everything's fine DK. Nothing to see here," she tried to assure him. "Nothing at all."

However, the ape was skeptical, with his skepticism being confirmed when he they heard a short cry just before Ash fell from down the stairs and to the ground with a thud. Leaf cringed at the scene and she quickly tried to direct Donkey Kong and her Pokémon friends into the café. As she was doing so, Tyranitar came up to her with a mischievous grin and made kissing motions as he glanced over at Ash.

"That's disgusting, Tee-Tar," Leaf grunted as she turned to see the Pokémon making pseudo goo goo eyes at her. He then made more kissing motions towards Leaf as he looked back at Ash, who was now joined by a woman with brown hair as well as the Pikachu that had been at his side. He then gave a series of roars that indicated that Leaf had a significant crush on Ash. Tyranitar's mischief earned him a swift kick to the groin, which caused his eyes to bug out with pain as he fell to his knees, clutching his groin, groaning in pain.

"I guess that area isn't so heavily armored," Leaf commented casually as she made her way into the café, followed closely by her Pokémon friends with Tyranitar bringing up the rear, walking unevenly, still clutching his groin.

Inside the café, there were not a lot of patrons inside the café at this time. That did not surprise the group since it was not prime business hours for an eating establishment. However, there were a few patrons inside, each of who had their Pokémon out while they either ate or waited for their orders to be filled.

Captain Falcon and Diddy Kong looked over at Tyranitar and then at Leaf, who still had a scowl on her face.

"What happened out there?" Captain Falcon asked.

"Leaf and Tyranitar had a disagreement regarding her crush on a boy," Donkey Kong answered.

"So, Leaf's got a boyfriend," Diddy exclaimed mischievously.

"No I don't," the girl answered. Surprisingly for the others, there was no blush of embarrassment indicating a lie.

"So, who is he, then?" Donkey Kong asked.

That was when Leaf blushed and looked down at the ground. "His name is Ash Ketchum," she eventually answered. "He's an acquaintance from my past."

"Like I said, boyfriend," Diddy answered mischievously. The others were not so sure, though. To them, the way she spoke indicated that her feelings for him were far from romantic, as was her embarrassment when he had yelled from the top of those steps and later fallen from them in embarrassing fashion.

With the conversation over, the group proceeded to search for an unoccupied table, quickly finding one in the back of the café. They made their way over to the table and sat down. As they did so, Leaf noticed that most of the Pokémon that were out were cute Pokémon, rather than the massive monsters that half of her team consisted of. Once they had found a table, they got a set of menus and took a look at what they should order for their meals. After deciding, Leaf then went back to order their meals. Leaf ordered a tuna salad sandwich with tomato juice, while both Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong ordered fruit sandwiches with extra bananas and banana juices, while Captain Falcon had ordered a simple bowl of chicken soup. Once the orders were made, Leaf was told that they would be brought to her table. She then returned to the others.

While they were waiting for their orders to be delivered, Leaf looked around and leaned forward a bit. "If it's okay with you, I would like to talk about what the figure in that hologram said," she said quietly, not wanting her voice to carry.

"What more can we talk about?" Captain Falcon asked in the same tone. "He didn't give us a lot to go on."

"So why have us come to Kalos?" was Leaf's next question.

"Maybe the guy knows a bit more than he told us," Diddy volunteered.

"But then why not tell us if he was warning us as to what was coming?" Donkey Kong asked. "If he was actually an enemy, he could have taken us out while we were asleep."

"I agree," Leaf said.

"Do we know that he didn't do something?" Captain Falcon asked.

"While we were walking, Starmie and Chandelure scanned us," Leaf answered. "They detected nothing wrong."

"So what should we do?" Diddy Kong asked. "How can we find out what the threat is if the guy who called us here doesn't know?"

Leaf and the others considered what to do. "Then we'll just have to keep our eyes and ears open," she eventually answered.

"We should also split up," Captain Falcon suggested. "That way we can cover more ground and if we find the threat, whoever finds it can contact the others."

"Good idea," the others agreed. They then exchanged phone numbers with one another.

After a couple more minutes, the waitress came to their table with a tray containing their meals. She even had some plates of Pokémon food specially crafted for Leaf's Pokémon friends. She placed each meal before the recipient and once she was finished, asked, "Is there anything else I can get for you?"

Looking around at the others and seeing that they were fine, Leaf answered for the group, "I think we're fine for now, thanks."

"Call me if you need anything," the waitress answered. She then went to check on her other tables. With that, Leaf and the others sat back and began eating their meal.

Meanwhile, in another part of Lumiose City, a secret exchange was taking place. A man and a teenaged girl were making their way over to a café with an orange roof. This café was known as Lysandre Café and was also known to house the secret entrance to Lysandre Labs, a research center where Lysandre was researching various topics, but mostly how to use the energy generated from a process called Mega Evolution where certain Pokémon, when a stone they are holding resonates with a Key Stone held by their Trainer, along with the Trainer's heart, allows the Pokémon to temporarily evolve further than it normally would be allowed to do so, significantly boosting its power in the process. The man, a muscular man with short dark blonde hair wearing a brown hoodie with its sleeves cut off, dark great shorts, and blue knee and elbow wraps, did not care what Lysandre Labs did, though. And neither did his teenaged daughter, a girl of about eighteen years of age or so with short black hair, blue eyes, and wearing a black what appeared to be tank top that did not quite reach down to her blue jeans. Over the black tank top, she wore a green short sleeved cloak. Like the man, she cared nothing for the lab's research, only the fact that the lab's founder, Lysandre, was paying them one billion Poké Dollars (they had almost fainted when they had received the offer) for the ball, enough for them to retire should they choose to.

The man was a famed thief named Argus Steel that almost everyone in the criminal underworld knew about. The girl was none other than his daughter, Millis, who had worked with him on various heists and quests for a while now. The duo entered the Lysandre Café, the door closing behind them with an attendant proceeding to turn the 'open' sign to its 'closed' side and lock the door. Aside from the attendant and the thieves, it appeared as if the café was deserted save for a couple people working the counter. Looking across the room, they were promptly met by Lysandre, himself. Lysandre was a very tall man with thick pointy red hair, a long red beard, and blue eyes. He wore a black suit lined in red, black dress shoes, and black gloves. He was holding a briefcase in his hand. When he saw the two thieves, he glowered at them.

"So, do you have it?" he asked succinctly.

"You have the money?" Argus retorted.

Lysandre went over to a table, placed the briefcase on it, and opened it. "One billion Poké Dollars, as promised."

Argus and Millis went over to the briefcase and when they saw the money, Poké Dollar sighs practically lit up in their eyes. "My gosh! We could by a small moon with this," Millis exclaimed, looking up at her father.

"Only if it was claimed by the Pokémon World," Argus retorted.

Lysandre then shut the briefcase hard, almost closing it on the teenaged girl's fingers, who had almost miraculously withdrawn them from the money in time. "Hey, what was that for?" the girl blurted.

"Do you have what you promised?" Lysandre asked in an even tone, though his expression left no doubt as to what would happen to the Steels if they tried to take the money and run without giving him what he asked for, or if they tried to cheat him.

"Right here," Argus answered, reaching into his pocket, prompting one of the workers at the bar to reach underneath it and grip a hidden pistol. Lysandre's expression did not change as the thief reached into his pocket. He knew that he could stop the two of them if they tried to either cheat him or worse. The thief then took his hand out, producing a single Poké Ball with a gold top half and a white bottom half with the letters G and S inscribed on the top half. "The GS Ball, just as we promised."

"Open it," Lysandre ordered.

Argus put his finger on the ball's button in its center and tried to open it, likely to release whatever was inside the ball. Much to his surprise, he could not open it. He looked at Lysandre worriedly.

"I can't," he told the tall founder of Lysandre Labs and the leader of the burgeoning Team Flare.

"What?" Millis blurted, grabbing the GS Ball. She pushed the button as well, but it would not open. She then tried to pry it loose in order to open it, hoping to be able to prove that she and her father had, indeed, retrieved the GS Ball as required for their billion Poké Dollar payday. Try as she might, though, she was unable to do so. "Dad, get Honedge out here to open it," she suggested.

"That won't be necessary," Lysandre interjected. The two thieves looked over at him. "Give me the ball."

Millis then tossed the ball over to Lysandre, who caught it with the ease of a professional baseball player. He then took a tablet-like device out of his pocket and activated it. Several beams of light were emitted from the device and poured over the GS Ball. Lysandre then smiled. "It's genuine. Take your money and go. The combination to the briefcase is one zero one seven."

Argus input the code and the briefcase opened just as it should have. The Steels grinned. "Money money money money muh-nee. Money! Oh yeah!" Millis sang. With this haul, they were rich beyond their wildest dreams, and all they had had to do was go to the Johto Region and take the GS Ball from a Poké Ball maker named Kurt, who did not even care when they took it. They did not ask any questions when Lysandre took the ball, though. They just took the money and left the café, one billion Poké Dollars richer.

Meanwhile, Lysandre looked over at the two workers at the bar and told them, "Open the café back up and keep watch. I'll be downstairs opening the GS Ball."

"Can it be opened sir?" the woman behind the counter asked.

"Yes," Lysandre answered, nodding. "All that is needed are the right tools." He then retreated to the labs behind the china cabinet. As he went down to the lab, he grinned. He would open the GS Ball and reveal its secret. And then, he would have the keys to ensuring that his dreams would be fulfilled, no matter who tried to stop him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Ash Ketchum watched as the plane descended towards the runway of the Lumiose Airport. It was around nine A.M. in the morning and he had not gotten a lot of sleep on the plane ride. Unlike the last time he had arrived in Kalos, where he traveled with the reporter Alexa, this time he was traveling alone with Pikachu sitting next to him. Ash and Pikachu were eagerly anticipating their return to the Kalos Region for a multitude of reasons. First and foremost was the fact that there was a tournament called the Champion's Tournament, which was going to take place in Kiloude City, in a facility called the Battle Maison. This tournament was open to anyone who had won a League or a Battle Frontier competition, which Ash had. He was planning on using his victory in the Kanto Battle Frontier a couple years ago as his entry pass to the tournament. Second, and just as important, was the fact that he had made close friends during his first trip to Kalos and he was eager to see them again. He had greatly missed them after first leaving Kalos to continue his journey several months ago, particularly Serena. There was something different about this group of traveling companions from all of the others, before and since.

"It's gonna be great to see Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie again, won't it Pikachu," Ash stated, grinning in anticipation of the meeting. "It's been far too long," he added quietly.

"Pika pika," Pikachu agreed, looking up at Ash and nodding.

"It feels like it's been an eternity." Ash said seemingly distantly. Pikachu nodded in agreement. "I'm finally back in Kalos. Time to fulfill our dreams that began on that fateful day four years ago."

"Pika," Pikachu answered excitedly, clenching his fingers into a fist.

Indeed, it had been a long journey. He had gone through many different regions, having taken their Gym Leader Challenges and having made it to the Pokémon Leagues of those various regions. However, victory had always eluded him, save for the Orange League, which was only recently recognized by the World Pokémon League as being a legitimate league. The good news was, though, that anyone who had won the Orange League was now viewed as a League Champion, even if they had done so before its inclusion in the official World Pokémon League. Now, with that League Championship, as well as having beaten the Battle Frontier, Ash finally had a chance to participate in the Champion's Tournament and become a true World Champion. He knew that it would be difficult, but he had a team that could do it. He had decided to bring his Kalos Team with him since he viewed them as not only his strongest team, but also for nostalgic reasons since he was returning to the Kalos Region. Still, he had his secret weapon ready to go for the tournament that would start in about a week. He wanted to take the time before the tournament to reconnect with old friends.

He had heard so much about what Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie had been doing since he had left. Serena had become the Kalos Queen, having won the Pokémon Showcase Master Class, defeating the previous Kalos Queen, Aria, in the Master Class competition. Also, like Aria, she had become an idol and already had a Number One bestselling CD out and one of her songs, _Power of Dreams_ , was Number One on billboards. She had also performed several duets with Aria and despite them being rivals for Kalos Queen, they were actually pretty good friends. They had made a joint CD that was already burning up the charts.

As for Clemont, he had heard that Clemont had invented a new training tool called Super Training. It was a program that could be put into a Player Search System and allowed Pokémon to compete in holographic games that could train them in certain attributes such as speed, power, or endurance. It had already been exported to the Hoenn Region. He had recently received a phone call from an old friend, May, telling him about it and how he should try it. He had heard that it was also going to be exported to Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh, and Unova in the not too distant future. He was looking forward to trying it out with Pikachu and the rest of his team. Perhaps he would even have some Super Training competitions with his previous companions. He also hoped that it would help prepare his team for the upcoming tournament and possibly give him a leg up on his competition.

The final few minutes of the flight when the plane finally touched down on the runway went by far too slowly for the now fourteen year old boy and his best friend. He did his best to wait patiently for his plane to arrive at its gate, but he felt as if he were losing precious time waiting for the plane to land so they could disembark. Eventually, he saw the scrolling scene outside the window slow until the plane came to a complete stop.

After a few more minutes, the pilot spoke over the loudspeaker, "Welcome to Lumiose City. We hope you enjoyed your flight."

That was Ash's cue to unbuckle his seatbelt and make his way over to the boarding tunnel. Before heading over to the tunnel, though, he reached above him so he could grab his backpack. He had packed light, being able to fit all of his essential clothing and supplies inside his backpack. Once he had grabbed his backpack, he made his way over to the boarding tunnel, waiting in line with the rest of the passengers.

Getting through security was tedious and slow, but he knew it was necessary with the eruption of the Galactic Federation Civil War. Kalos was not in Cyrus's line of sight but the Legendary Pokémon present could still tip the balance of a battle so airport security was thoroughly checking all incoming and outgoing passengers to make sure that no one was either on a watch list to go join Cyrus or any other criminal organization, for the Kalos Region was still concerned about the remnants of Team Flare, for while they had been beaten and their plans seemingly stopped, they were not dead and their leader, a man named Lysandre, was still at large.

Eventually, Ash and Pikachu made it through security without any issue. His backpack was scanned for any illicit items, but nothing was found. He had been questioned about Pikachu being outside of his Poké Ball but Ash explained that Pikachu did not like Poké Balls so he always traveled outside of his ball. An Alakazam was there to ensure that Ash was telling the truth and when the Psychic-type Pokémon nodded in confirmation, Ash was allowed to continue. After finally making it through security, he was met by his friends, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie, along with a pudgy bipedal Dragon-type Pokémon with a mauve underside with a lavender dorsal side called Goodra.

Serena was a girl the same age as Ash with honey blond hair and blue eyes. She wore a light pink sleeveless dress with a white collar and a black sleeveless undershirt underneath. The dress was tied at the collar by a blue ribbon that Ash had given her just before she debuted in her first Pokémon Showcase. Over her dress was a long red vest with large red pockets. She also wore long black stockings that came up to her thighs but not quite up to the dress's skirt, brown shoes, as well as a pink-red fedora with a black hatband on her head. Lying on the floor at her feet was her pink backpack that had a black Poké Ball design on it.

Standing next to Serena were Clemont, Bonnie, and Goodra. Clemont was the Lumiose City Gym Leader and the same age as Ash and Serena. He had blonde hair, blue eyes, and wore a blue and yellow jumpsuit with white and black shoes. On his back, he wore a black and white backpack that stored his inventions that he referred to as "Clemontic Gear." Sitting next to him was his little sister, Bonnie. She, too, had blonde hair and blue eyes. She wore a dark brown to almost black sleeveless shirt, a black ribbon on her chest, a white skirt, black shorts that went almost down to the knee, and pink shoes. She also carried a yellow satchel. As for the Pokémon, Goodra was a Pokémon that Ash had befriended during his first trip through Kalos, but had gone to live at his swamp after having protected it from a Florges. He had visited Ash on occasion after his Kalos trip, but it had been quite some time since he had seen his friend.

When Ash had finally made it through, the group had rushed over to meet him, with Serena hugging him quickly, causing him to blush, Clemont to look perplexed at why she was hugging him, and Bonnie to giggle mischievously. "How was your trip?" Serena asked after disengaging from him.

"It was fine, if a little slow," Ash answered.

"How did you do on your other journeys?" Clemont asked.

"I did okay," Ash answered, sheepishly. He had not won the other League, but given his victory in the Orange League just after he had participated in the Indigo League, he was able to enter the Battle Maison's Champions Tournament.

"Did you catch any new Pokémon?" Bonnie then asked, looking up at him in anticipation.

"Some," Ash answered. "But I only brought my Kalos Team." He then looked over at Goodra and added, "And I left a slot open, too."

Goodra grinned and cried, "Goodra!"

"I had intended to visit you at the swamp but since you're here, I was wonderin' if you wanted to join my team for the Battle Maison tournament."

Goodra nodded and gave a cry of affirmation. Serena then handed Ash Goodra's Poké Ball, and Ash recalled the Dragon-type Pokémon into the ball. Bonnie did not frown as Ash recalled Goodra into his Poké Ball, but she had hoped that Ash would show her a new Pokémon from a foreign region. She then noticed that Ash was wearing a black Mega Ring on his left wrist. "You're not wearing your Mega Ring," she noted. "Does that mean you're not using any Mega Pokémon in the tournament?"

Ash shook his head. "Charizard's back at Professor Oak's lab. Since Charizard has access to two Mega Evolutions, Professor Oak wanted to study him a bit more. As such, I decided to just come with my Kalos team for the time being, but don't worry, Charizard's just a phone call away and I'll still be calling him up for the later rounds of the Battle Maison Tournament so you'll still be seein' a Mega Evolution."

Ash then proceeded to make his way towards the Pokémon Center not too far away. He wanted to contact Professor Oak and his mother to let them know that he had arrived safely and without incident. This allowed Clemont and Bonnie to depart the scene.

"Hey, where are ya goin'?" Ash asked, seeing Clemont and Bonnie head south.

"We have to get back to the gym and make sure that everything's set for any future challengers while we're out," Clemont answered. "Also, Professor Sycamore wanted to talk to you about your Mega Ring. He said that he could upgrade it so you should go to see him after you talk to Professor Oak and your mother."

Ash nodded and watched as the siblings departed. He could not help but shake the feeling that they were hiding something. However, he did not mind all that much. He turned to his left and saw Serena siding up next to him, smiling.

"You're not going with them?" Ash asked.

Serena shook her head, her smile showing her barely contained happiness. "I'm staying with you. While the city's mostly the same as it was the last time you were here, there have been a few changes and openings. I'd like to give you the guided tour, if you don't mind. After all, isn't it a week until the competition in Kiloude City?"

"Yeah," Ash answered nodding. "And I wouldn't mind the tour at all."

Serena's smile got even wider and her eyes lit up with delight. "Really?"

"Sure," Ash answered, giving a nervous chuckle. He could tell that Serena had some feelings for him; he just did not know how far they went and what kind of feelings they were.

His first stop was the North Pokémon Center. When he stepped inside, he found that it was sparsely populated. There were two technicians, one male, the other female, working on PC in the corner while a few other Trainers were gathered at several tables. The technicians working on the PC were dressed in brown pants and gray shirts and had on blue hats with rims that obscured their faces so it was difficult to identify them. The man had short, lavender hair, most of which was hidden by the cap that he wore, and green eyes. The female technician had magenta hair, though the cap that she wore made it so Ash could not tell that whether or not her hair was short or long. She also had blue eyes.

The moment Ash entered, they took notice of him and stopped what they were doing, huddling close together and whispering something before they got back to work. While both of them wore the standard uniforms of technicians, but they were constantly watching the entrance to the Pokémon Center and had taken notice when Ash had entered, zeroing their gaze in on the boy.

When Ash had entered, he was immediately met by a Venusaur, who recoiled in shock at the sight of him, for he had nearly collided with the Pokémon. Ash was just as surprised at the sight of Venusaur and stopped to avoid the impending collision. Back at the PC, the technicians seemed to scowl as the Venusaur went over to meet the boy and blocked their view of him. Serena came up to Ash from behind and asked, "What's wrong Ash?"

Ash turned around and, without a word, stepped to the left so she could see the large Grass/Poison-type Pokémon standing before them. After a second, the Venusaur recovered from its initial shock and made its way over to a bench not too far away and stood in front of it. Ash carefully made his way into the Pokémon Center, not wanting to be surprised by any other large Pokémon that may have been outside of their Poké Balls. He was quickly followed by Serena, who was just as surprised at the sight of the Pokémon and stared at it as Ash made his way over to the telephone.

As he made his way over to the telephone, he scanned the rest of the Pokémon Center for more large Pokémon, beginning to feel that the appearance of that Venusaur was suspicious. Surprisingly, he found just that: large Pokémon. Over in the corner on the same bench that Venusaur had parked itself in front of were a Tyranitar and a Garchomp. Ash saw the Venusaur standing close to them. Not too far away from them were a Jolteon, Starmie, and Chandelure. Ash was put on edge at the sight of the Chandelure, remembering his own encounter with its pre-evolved forms of Litwick and Lampent in a mansion in Unova where they had literally tried to suck the life out of him and his friends. These Pokémon, however, were not acting hostile in the slightest, though, just the opposite. They were very calm and content with each other's company. Still, there was something about those Pokémon that was different, but it also seemed familiar to Ash, though he could not put his finger on what it was.

Ash's eyes were soon drawn to a girl that was standing near the bench close to the Pokémon. She looked to be the same age as Ash. She was dressed in a simple black sleeveless dress that came down to just a little above the knees. She had long black hair that fell to the middle of her back and blue eyes. She was beautiful by any definition of the word, possibly one of the most beautiful girls he had ever laid eyes on, and that was saying something considering some of the traveling companions he had traveled with, especially Serena. What surprised him even more as he looked at the girl, though, was that while she was, indeed, beautiful, the feelings welling up inside of him were not romantic in nature. He could not identify them at all, but it was nothing like the feelings he had for Serena, or any of his other female traveling companions, to say nothing of the prospect that it was anything like the feelings that a previous male traveling companion, Brock, had for anything that even remotely looked female. For the life of him, he could have sworn that he had actually recognized the girl from somewhere.

He then saw the Venusaur go over to the girl and it began to talk to her. He could not tell what was being said, for Venusaur was keeping its voice low. The girl then made a response, for Ash could see her lips move, but he could not make out what was being said. He soon saw the girl surreptitiously look over Venusaur's shoulder over at him. He quickly averted his gaze, not wanting to appear to be staring and causing her to become upset. However, he would soon have other things to worry about, for trouble was soon to arrive since it did not take long for Serena to notice that Ash had been staring at the girl for quite a while. She was not amused.

"Hey Ash, who's that?" she asked flatly, snapping him out of his reverie.

He turned to see Serena glaring at him, her hands on her hips, showing her displeasure at him staring at the girl. "Uh, I don't know," Ash managed to stammer, not knowing why Serena was so angry at him at the moment. It was not like he had any feelings for the girl.

"Really?" she retorted, not believing his answer and unwilling to let him off the hook.

"I really don't know," Ash insisted. "It's just that for a fleeting moment, I could have sworn that I recognized her from somewhere."

Serena was quick to notice that the girl's head perked up as Ash had said those words, despite the fact that he had said them quietly enough that they should have been out of earshot. That girl must have had incredible hearing.

Ash wasted no time making his way towards the videophone hoping to somehow avoid Serena's wrath for a few moments and give her a chance to calm down, him not realizing that she was simply jealous of the other girl and worried that she may have tried to steal him. When he reached the phone, he quickly dialed the number of Professor Oak. He knew that since it was an intercontinental long distance call that he would have to pay a noticeable fee for it. He would worry about that later, though. Soon, the face of Professor Oak, a man with gray hair appearing to be in his late fifties to early sixties appeared on the screen.

"Oh hello Ash," the professor said jovially. "How was your flight?"

"It was fine professor," the boy answered.

"Is everything okay? Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Uh, not right now. I just arrived and am getting settled in."

"Well, happy birthday," the Professor wished. Just as he had made that wish, what looked to be a purple blob of sludge came into the view. The purple blob of sludge had two eyes, a large mouth, and two arms with hands, all of which looked to be made out of sludge.

"Muk, muk," Ash could hear the creature growl in the background. He could only smile as Muk, one of his Pokémon, came into view.

"Oh no," the professor uttered as if he were in the middle of a horror movie. For him, that was what taking care of Ash's Muk was, for Ash's Muk had a way of showing affection that often meant smothering him to the point where it was difficult to breathe, not to mention him being covered by a creature that had what amounted to a body made out of toxic sludge. While that had been useful in defeating threats to the lab, it was also tremendously inconvenient since Muk had a great deal of affection for the professor.

As for Muk, it crawled up Professor Oak's back and reached his head and quickly began to smother him. "Muk, muk, muk," the Pokémon continued.

"So, is everyone still okay?" Ash asked, having to suppress a chuckle, seeing that at the very least Muk seemed to be doing fine.

"Mmfff, mmmf, hmmmf," he could hear the professor grunt as he tried to get Muk off of him. Eventually, he was able to crawl out from underneath Muk and rejoin the conversation. "Well, as I was trying to say earlier, everyone here is doing quite well." He then took note of Pikachu, who was standing right next to Ash. "And I can see that Pikachu is doing well, too."

"Pi-ka-chu," Pikachu cried exuberantly with a massive smile.

The professor then turned and noticed Serena standing in the background. "Oh, is that your girlfriend from Kalos?" he asked.

Ash's face immediately turned red and the professor could only smile. "I see," he said, knowing, answering his own question. Ash could only look down, not able to deny it.

"Well, I don't know about girlfriend, but she _is_ a close friend," he eventually answered.

"Hello Professor Oak," Serena proclaimed, entering herself into the conversation as she leaned over next to Ash, causing him to give a bashful smile.

"And you must be Serena," the professor said, giving a kind smile. "Ash had said a lot about you. He views you as a very close friend."

Serena gave a shy smile and then looked over at Ash, beaming. For a split second, she noticed the professor looking past her curiously. He seemed to be focusing on something behind them. When she turned around, she noticed the girl that had grabbed Ash's attention earlier. The moment she had turned, though, the girl looked away and went back to talking with her Pokémon. Ash could not help but notice the professor's pause, either.

"Is everything okay Professor?" Ash asked.

"Oh, yes, everything's fine," Professor Oak answered, snapping out of his reverie. Ash looked back and saw nothing, the girl and the Pokémon having moved to a different area of the Pokémon Center. Looking back at Serena, he continued, "Serena, I must say I enjoyed your performance in the Pokémon Showcase Master Class. I have also bought your CD, as has Ash."

"Ah, that's nice," Serena stammered in reply, blushing in embarrassment.

Professor Oak gave a friendly chuckle. "Well, it's good that you arrived safely, Ash. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No thanks," Ash answered. "Everything's fine."

"Well, good luck in your tournament next week," the professor wished before Ash hung up the phone.

Once he had hung up the phone, the screen went blank. He then went to dial the phone once more time, this time dialing his mother's number. He waited for a few seconds until the face of his mother appeared on the videophone. She had auburn hair and amber eyes. She put on a kind smile, as was usual for her, since he had always known his mother to have a cheerful personality. "Hello, this is the Ketchum residence," she began.

"Hi Mom," Ash began, stopping so that she could ask him all of the relevant questions without interruption.

"Hi honey!" she proclaimed cheerfully. "How is everything? How was your flight? Have you gotten everything squared away? Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Well, I just got here, Mom, but so far, everything's fine," Ash answered. "The flight was boring, though. They just didn't have any movies that I liked or wanted to see."

"You could always take a book or use that time to catch up on some educational materials," Delia suggested. "After all, you're only one month away from your middle-school equivalency exam."

"Don't worry Mom, I'll be fine," Ash assured her as best he could. Truthfully, though, he had not been putting that much thought into his supplementary educational materials until fairly recently and he had a lot of catching up to do.

"Oh, by the way, how are your friends?" Delia then asked.

"They're all fine."

Delia then gave a knowing smile as she looked to Ash's side and saw Serena standing next to him. "Oh, it looks like you've got a girlfriend," she said with a mischievous smile. "My boy is growing up so quickly."

"Huh?" Ash asked, not knowing what his mother was talking about at first. It took a few seconds for him to realize that she was talking about Serena. He looked over at her and her smile filled his view as she stared into his eyes. His eyes went wide with shock and he soon looked back at his mother and gave a nervous laugh, Serena giggling all the while. For a moment, Ash thought that he could feel the smile of another person in the area. Had he looked behind him, he would have seen the girl in the black dress smiling as he was talking to his mother, as well as his embarrassment at Delia calling Serena his girlfriend, as well as Serena staring at him, smiling and giggling. As she continued to focus in on Ash and Serena, the Tyranitar came up from behind her and made kissing noises and gave a few grunts, likely commenting on how Ash and Serena made a nice couple, or that the girl should make a play for Ash. The girl was not amused.

"I'm wearing hard shoes," she told him, turning to face him, her stern expression showing that she was not amused with his comments. The Pokémon then placed his hands over his groin to protect it from an attack, which only prompted the girl to note, "Your knees and legs are now open to attack." She then tapped the heel of her foot, letting him know that it was very hard, possibly made of metal.

At that point, the Tyranitar backed off, obviously having done something embarrassing enough to warrant physical discipline in the past, or she had sparred with him and had taken advantage of a weakness in his defense that the Pokémon would never forget. The girl then focused back in on Ash as the Chandelure came up to her. To an outside observer, it would have looked like Chandelure was trying to drain her life energy, but the reality was that Chandelure was telepathically making a report to her. Her eyes narrowed as Chandelure gave its report.

"Are you sure it's them?" she asked in an almost dark tone.

Chandelure bobbed up in down in affirmation.

"I see," she eventually said. "Keep monitoring them, but stay out of sight. I'll have to get dressed for the party soon."

Chandelure then looked over at Ash and Serena and asked the girl a question.

"I don't know," the girl answered. She then took out a small datapad and activated it, the hologram of Serena's face appearing on it. The only difference was that the Serena on the datapad had long hair, while the Serena with Ash had short hair. "However, I doubt that an idol who has a top selling CD is Chosen Hero material."

Venusaur then came up to her and made a comment.

"That's a twentieth century TV show, not real life," the girl answered, turning to the Pokémon. "Singing won't end wars or be all that useful against a truly evil enemy. Besides, I get the feeling that something's off here."

"Saur?" the Venusaur asked. "Saur venusaur saur?"

"Gut feeling," the girl answered.

Back at Ash, Delia was suppressing a laugh as she saw Ash blush over her comments about Serena being his girlfriend, something that Serena was doing nothing to even remotely convince Delia otherwise.

"Well I wish you luck in the World Tournament and with your girlfriend," Delia told her son, smiling and giving mischievous laugh.

"Aw, c'mon Mom," Ash almost whined before smiling, himself.

"Be safe and have fun, honey," Delia wished. "And good luck."

"Thanks Mom," Ash finished, smiling. With that, he hung up the phone. As he did so, he began to look downcast. A part of him was beginning to feel bad about leaving Pallet Town so soon after he had returned from his last adventure. He would make it a point to stay home a while longer and catch up with his mother once this tournament had concluded.

After hanging up the phone, he rose from his seat and turned around to see the girl heading over towards a dressing room, being followed closely by her Pokémon. As he watched her go, he could not shake the feeling that he knew her from somewhere. He also strongly suspected that she was eavesdropping on his conversations with his mother and Professor Oak. He did not worry about the girl any further and, instead, prepared to leave, Serena joining him.

As Ash left, the two technicians rose from their computer and proceeded to follow Ash. As they did so, the girl that had seemingly been focusing in on Ash 'accidentally' knocked into them and caused the female technician's hat to fall off and her hair to unfurl, revealing a long strip of magenta hair, and also revealing her to be Jessie of Team Rocket, though Ash would still not have likely recognized her. The girl, however, was not so dense and she looked at them in the eye, not bothering to apologize.

"Hey, watch it!" Jessie cried, turning to glare at the girl and possibly even threaten her some more.

"You three stay away from him," the girl commanded in a low, cold voice as she walked by them, her Pokémon following her, staring at the woman and the other two as they passed.

It took Jessie a few moments to realize that the girl that had run into her was none other than Leaf, the bane of Team Rocket.

"Uh, James," she stammered, her eyes wide with horror as the girl headed into the dressing room, "I think that was Leaf."

The faces of the other two Rockets went ashen. "Leaf? Here?" James stammered.

"What would she be doin' here?" Meowth, the bipedal cat-like Pokémon with tan fur and a single gold charm on his forehead asked.

"I don't know, but I think she has a thing for the twerp," Jessie answered. "There's no one else she could have meant just now."

"Dat's not good," Meowth complained. "If Leaf's protectin' da twerp, we're in for a woild of hoit if we go after 'im or Pikachu."

"Yes," James echoed. "But still, why would she stick her neck out for him like that? She's never been seen around him before. Who is he to her?"

"Who cares," Jessie answered. "She just told us to not go after the twerp. She didn't actually say anything about Pikachu. We know the twerp's going to a party, a party where there are guaranteed to be tons of Pokémon since the twerp has lots of friends. Why go after Pikachu now when we can catch not only Pikachu, but a ton of others later on? And if we do it surreptitiously enough, we won't risk running into the twerp and angering Leaf."

"Because Leaf might be there," Meowth retorted. "You saw her starin' at da twerp durin' da phone call."

"She can't know where the party is located since even _we_ don't know," Jessie told them, not letting the horror of the prospect of facing Leaf get to her, despite her initial terror at the sight of the girl. "We'll go in, get Pikachu and as many other Pokémon as we can, and get out without raising an alarm. Maybe we'll get a Mega Evolution capable Pokémon and/or some Mega Stones in the bargain as well."

"Okay," Meowth eventually said skeptically, not wanting to risk Jessie's wrath but still feeling that they were taking an unnecessary and foolish risk. James also eventually agreed to go along with her plan. Once they were ready, they departed the Pokémon Center and proceeded to follow Ash so they would be able to find out where his party would be.

As Team Rocket departed, Leaf stood by the dressing room and watched as they left, Chandelure relaying their plans to her. Their plans caused her to scoff. They could not possibly be that stupid. Still, they could turn out to be useful to her since she did not know where the party was yet, either, and she wanted to arrive before Ash and his friends did. To that end, she took Starmie and Chandelure aside and told him, "Keep an eye on those three. If they make a move on Ash, stop them. If they lead us to the party's location, relay it to me."

"Chandelure?" the chandelier-like Pokémon asked.

"I'll be staying here until you two report back."

The Pokémon nodded and proceeded to make their way out of the Pokémon Center. As they departed, Leaf then made her way into the dressing room. She needed to put on her uniform for Ash's birthday party. After all, she did not want to be recognized by the paparazzi or by anyone else at the party if she could avoid it.

Back outside, Serena excitedly took Ash on her promised tour of the city. The tour around Lumiose City was fun, if not necessarily brief. Serena guided him around all of the new sights and sounds, circumnavigating the city in a clockwise fashion, something that he was quick to pick up on. It was almost as if she was purposefully avoiding certain areas of the city, particularly the inner city. She had told him that a café with an orange roof called Lysandre Café was bustling with activity. She had told him that apprehensively, though, since that had been one of the hideouts of Team Flare. Despite Team Flare having seemingly been beaten while he had still been in Kalos on his first trip, the lack of knowing the final fate of Lysandre concerned him. And it seemed as if it also concerned Serena, too.

Next, she told him about all of the cafés that had opened up in the city, as well as the businesses. They took tours inside and Ash tried some of their light fare, mainly fruit sandwiches. Serena was surprised that he actually seemed to not be eating as much as before and taking things a lot more easily. She had remembered him as being almost gluttonous at times and the only reason he was as slim and as toned as he was was because he was always on his journey. She began to worry that he may have known about the surprise party she, Clemont, and Bonnie were throwing.

After touring the café's, she took him on a Gogoat shuttle ride, the two of them riding the goat-like Grass-type Pokémon to the southern part of the city. She then walked down Vernal Avenue a bit until she came across the Stone Emporium and took him inside. The Stone Emporium was a store that sold a large variety of Mega Stones, almost always at exorbitant prices. Ash had cringed when he saw the prices that they were going for. Unfortunately, he had seen a Mega Stone that he was kind of interested in: Charizardite X, a Mega Stone that would allow Charizard to Mega Evolve into a different type of Mega Charizard, Mega Charizard X, rather than Mega Charizard Y. He had battled a Mega Charizard X before and, with the right moves, Mega Charizard X was highly difficult to nearly impossible for any non-Legendary or Mega Pokémon without a type advantage to defeat.

He continued to look at the Mega Stones and noticed both a Blastoisinite and Venusaurite on display. They were priced at one million Poké Dollars. His eyes went wide at the price. He did not have that kind of money on him. He sighed, guessing that he would have to wait to get either the Venusaurite, Blastoisinite, or any of the other desirable Mega Stones, particularly the Charizardite X, until after the tournament, assuming he managed to place high enough to get any prize money.

As he was looking around, he noticed Serena talking to the shopkeeper. Apparently, they were on good terms, really good terms since the prices for Mega Stones for her were significantly less, only about ten thousand Poké Dollars.

After a while, she went up to him and asked, "Did you find anything you liked?"

"Nothing in my price range," the boy answered. "Did you find anything?"

"I don't have any Mega Evolution capable Pokémon at the moment," Serena answered. She could not help but notice that he was focusing on the Blastoisinite and Venusaurite. "Do you have a Venusaur and Blastoise?" she asked.

"I have a Squirtle and a Bulbasaur," Ash answered. "Bulbasaur has shown no real interest in evolving and Squirtle is still leader of the Squirtle Squad as far as I know."

"Well when they evolve, with those stones, you'd be able to Mega Evolve them."

"They're still out of my price range."

"I could put in a good word to the shopkeeper," Serena offered. "They consider me very stylish here since I've done a lot of things in Lumiose City."

"Well, being the Kalos Queen and having the Number One song on the billboards will get you noticed," Ash said, giving a kind laugh. "Don't worry about it, Serena. I've already got a Charizardite Y for Charizard and he's my main Mega Evolution anyway."

Serena gave him a smile but she also clearly showed that she had wanted to do or get something for him. "Well, is there anywhere else you want me to take you?" she eventually asked.

"Not right now," Ash answered. "I'd better be getting to Professor Sycamore's lab so I can upgrade my Mega Ring and get a TMV Pass."

"Oh, that reminds me, I've got some errands of my own to run." Serena then looked at Ash affectionately, her smile never leaving her. "Don't be too long."

"Hopefully it won't be," Ash answered.

The two of them then departed the Stone Emporium, with Serena turning north, heading towards Prism Tower, while Ash went south to make his way over to Professor Sycamore's lab. As Serena departed, he could not help but notice that Serena was hurrying towards the Prism Tower. He smiled her way as she departed. She had been very friendly with him and had done nothing to dissuade his mother of the prospect of them her being his girlfriend. Heck, even before coming back to Kalos, he had been wondering if his feelings for her were different than they had been for any other girl.

It did not take long for him to reach Professor Sycamore's lab, for the large gray building was right across the street from Vernal Avenue. Before crossing the street, Ash made certain that no cars or Gogoats were coming. Once he was certain that it was safe to cross, he crossed the street and headed into the lab.

Inside the lab, he was immediately met by Professor Sycamore's assistants: Sina, a young black woman with black hair, that fell past her shoulders, gray eyes, and wearing a white long sleeved shirt and skirt and Dexio, a young Caucasian man with brown hair, blue eyes, and wearing a white dress suit. When Ash entered, he noticed the two standing by a table with a single computer console. They immediately looked up from their work when he arrived.

"Welcome Ash," Sina proclaimed in a friendly tone. "It's been a while since you've been here."

"Yes it has," Ash answered, thinking back on his last visit to the lab. "Is Professor Sycamore around?"

"Actually, he's away at the moment," Sina answered.

"He's at Hotel Richissime," Dexio told Ash. "He's hosting an event for some famous people. If you hurry, you should be able to reach him."

Ash looked puzzled and then said, "Well, it's that I'm here to upgrade my Mega Ring. Could you help me with that?"

Dexio shook his head. "I think you would have to go to Anistar City for that," Dexio explained. "Anyway, Professor Sycamore wants to talk with you, anyway so you should go to Hotel Richissime to meet him. He said that it had something to do with the Champion's Tournament."

"Okay," Ash said, skeptically. He did not want to be running around Lumiose City on his birthday. Either way, though, if he wanted to meet up with Professor Sycamore, he would have to head on over to the northern part of the city. As such, he promptly exited the lab so he could call a cab to take him to the hotel.

While Ash was inside the lab talking to Sina and Dexio, Jessie, James, and Meowth of Team Rocket waited, listening to the conversation. As soon as they mentioned that Professor Sycamore was at Hotel Richissime, the trio grinned.

"So, it looks like the twerp is headed to that hotel in the north," James commented.

"Good," Jessie said with malicious satisfaction. "That'll be the perfect place for us to capture Pikachu and the other Pokémon."

"And with Leaf not bein' dere since she doesn't know where da twerp is, we should be able ta get away scot free," Meowth added.

"Yeah!" the trio exclaimed before rushing off to make their way to the hotel so they could infiltrate it before Ash arrived.

As they left, they did not notice a chandelier-like Pokémon phasing from the lab's outer wall, along with Starmie, who had situated itself up on the lab's roof. Chandelure watched as they departed and the two Pokémon telepathically relayed everything Team Rocket had learned to Leaf. Through their connection, she then told them to rendezvous with her at the hotel since she intended to invite herself to the party. After all, the party was in celebration of Ash's birthday, and she would not miss it for the world. And she would in no way let Team Rocket ruin it.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Ash rode inside the back of the cab as it rode along South Boulevard towards North Boulevard and the Hotel Richissime. As the cab took him to the hotel, he thought about the day's events; his flight to Lumiose City, his arrival, his talk with Professor Oak and his mother in the Pokémon Center, the mysterious girl that had a full team of very strong Pokémon, and Serena. Then there was Serena and her reaction to seeing him.

His thoughts soon completely drifted towards Serena and he gave a smile. She had always been a nice girl so her being nice to him was not that big of a surprise. Her reaction to him studying the mysterious girl at the Pokémon Center, however, was. He then thought about his past with Serena and how she had acted around him, and when other girls were around him. He then gave a silent chuckle as he finally came to a realization: she liked him. She liked him a lot. And it was not the normal type of friendship like that he had with his other traveling companions and the friendship that they had with him. This was either getting close to, or was already, romantic. A part of him smiled at that realization while another part grew concerned. What were his feelings towards her? While he could not deny that she was, indeed, pretty, even beautiful, he was not sure that his feelings for her were romantic. And if they were romantic, there was the question of whether or not he was ready for that type of relationship. After all, he was just turning fourteen. Things like that could wait. Well, there was some hope that it would not be as complicated as it could have been. She had yet to kiss him, though he was beginning to wonder if that 'birthday present' was about to arrive when he met up with her again.

The cab ride took only a few minutes. The driver took the most direct to the hotel, which was on the eastern part of North Boulevard. It was a large black building that Serena had avoided almost like the plague during their tour. He began to wonder what was really going on and if there was a surprise party planned for him. If there was, he wondered if Sina and Dexio were also involved.

When they arrived at the hotel, the cab driver told him, "This is it, the Hotel Richissime. The fare is two thousand Poké Dollars."

Ash handed the cab driver the necessary payment and then departed the cab. As the cab driver drove off, he made his way towards the hotel, hoping to meet with Professor Sycamore as quickly as possible. He approached the hotel slowly, wondering if his friends were, indeed, planning a surprise party. However, he shook off the feeling and proceeded to make his way inside. If they were planning a party of some sort, he would find out soon enough.

When he entered the lobby, the concierge immediately came up to greet him. "Hello, welcome to the Hotel Richissime," he began. "Are you by any chance Ash Ketchum?"

"Yeah," Ash affirmed, not knowing how the concierge would be expecting him or possibly even be recognizing him.

"Professor Sycamore told us to expect your arrival. He is waiting for you in the Grand Versailles Ballroom on the lower level."

"Why would he be there?" Ash asked.

"I don't know," the concierge answered with a shrug. "All I know is that he told me to tell you to meet him down there. There is an escalator at the end of the hallway." The concierge pointed to his left, showing a hallway that quickly turned to the left. The Grand Versailles Ballroom is on that level. Go down the escalator, turn around and follow the corridor until you come to a large set of doors on your right."

"Thanks," Ash said as he proceeded to make his way down the hall.

As he walked down the hallway, he marveled at the walls as well as the carpet that lined the corridor. There were plenty of paintings and fancy wallpaper on the walls. The pictures seemed to show images of the great war from three thousand years ago that he had heard mentioned when Team Flare had made its move. Pikachu also marveled at the decorations. This was the first time Ash had been in such a luxurious hotel and he wanted to take it all in before leaving.

It did not take long for him to reach the escalator. When he reached it, before stepping on it, he found several fliers advertising performances and even some exhibition Pokémon Showcases. He was quick to notice that Serena was advertised on the fliers as well, his friend being dressed in a cheerleader or bandleader outfit. He smiled as he saw the fliers and then made his way down the escalator, Pikachu following close behind.

When he stepped off the escalator, he turned around and followed the short corridor back behind the escalator. At the end of the corridor, just before it turned to the right, he saw a series of tables and trays of food in the form of a buffet line. He was puzzled at its appearance but he did not think too much of it, merely walking past the small buffet line despite the fact that when he did so, both his and Pikachu's stomachs growled. When he turned to the right, he saw a series of tables that lined each wall of the corridor. There were large sets of doors on each side as well, the doors on the right leading to the Grand Versailles Ballroom. Also, standing off at a distance was none other than Professor Sycamore, a tall man with black hair, gray eyes, dressed in a white lab coat, accompanied by the famous movie actress and Kalos League Champion, Diantha. Diantha was dressed in her usual white shirt with white miniskirt and relatively long white coat with two large white tufts on the back. When Ash saw them, he immediately went over to them, the two turning to see the boy approach.

"Well, if it isn't Ash," Professor Sycamore proclaimed with a smile. "We were wondering when you would arrive."

"Hi Professor," Ash replied. "Hi Diantha," he added, turning to the movie star.

"Pi-ka," Pikachu echoed, waving at the two.

"So, I take it you came here to upgrade your Mega Ring," Professor Sycamore surmised.

"That was my original hope," Ash confirmed. "But Sina and Dexio said that it could only be upgraded in Anistar City."

The professor looked a little downcast. "Well, as it turns out, that does, indeed, seem to be the case."

"They also said that you wanted to see me."

"I do," the professor answered, perking up a bit. "There are two things I need to give you. First is the TMV Pass." The professor then produced a ticket from his pocket. "This will allow you to ride the TMV train from Lumiose City to Kiloude City for the Battle Maison Tournament." He then handed the ticket to Ash.

Ash took the ticket and thanked him. "Thanks Professor." He then turned to Pikachu and grinned. "Now we can get over to the Battle Maison and maybe do some training before the tournament."

"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air.

"Not so fast," Diantha cautioned. "There's something else the professor wants to give you first."

"Okay," Ash said, calming down and looking at her curiously.

"Come with me," the professor offered.

Ash nodded and he followed the professor over to a set of double doors, the two being followed by Diantha. When they arrived at the doors, Ash began to grow a little suspicious and asked, "Professor, what is it you want to give me?"

"You'll see," the professor answered in a veiled tone. "Just head on through these doors."

Now Ash knew that the professor was hiding something. "But professor, why can't you just give it to me now? We've got a lot of training to do before the tournament."

"You'll see," the professor answered again.

Ash gave another curious look as he followed the professor as Sycamore opened the doors, allowing Ash inside the Grand Versailles Ballroom. He glanced over at Pikachu before entering. After he had entered, the professor then followed after Ash, with Diantha bringing up the rear.

The interior of the Grand Versailles was completely dark. It was as if the power had gone out. He gazed around at the scene quizzically, as did Pikachu. He could make out the shapes of tables and possibly some trays.

"Pikapi, pi-ka-ka-chu?" Pikachu eventually asked, almost certainly wondering what was going on.

"I don't know," Ash answered.

He surreptitiously reached down for one of his Poké Balls, ready to deploy his Pokémon at a moment's notice if anything bad happened. That was when everything was revealed.

"Surprise!" yelled a noticeable group of people in the room as the lights immediately sprang to life and illuminated the ballroom. Ash clearly recognized the voices of Serena, Professor Sycamore, and Alexa. Looking ahead, he saw Serena, now dressed in a lovely glittering black sleeveless minidress, along with Clemont, dressed in a white shirt, blue and white striped tie with a blue blazer and khaki pants, and Bonnie, dressed in a simple white dress.

Serena then went over to Ash and sang in a sensuous tone, "Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Ash Ketchum. Happy birthday to you." She finished her song by kissing him on the cheek, causing the boy to blush and shudder, with everyone else either looking at him, frozen with surprise, or whooping in approval.

"Happy birthday," she told him in an uncomfortably sensuous tone as she took a step away.

"Uh, thanks," Ash replied nervously, embarrassed by the unexpectedly sensuous song and the kiss.

He looked over at Clemont and Bonnie, the former of which had his mouth hanging open in shock, with the latter frowning. Bonnie then looked over at her older brother and then back at Serena. Ash thought that he could see a mischievous sparkle in her eye but Clemont put the kibosh on her idea when he said, "Don't even think about it Bonnie. Her feelings are for Ash."

"Thanks, big brother," Bonnie retorted sarcastically.

Ash could only laugh at Clemont and Bonnie's argument. After a few moments, he scanned the ballroom. Despite there being a lot of trays and a large buffet, there were not all that many guests. Besides Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie, there were very few other guests. There were Professor Sycamore, Diantha, a few cooks and also a girl with black hair falling down to the middle of her back wearing a white short-sleeved dress shirt with a red miniskirt and eyeglasses. To him, it looked like a school uniform. She was sitting at a table at the other end of the hall, close to the buffet line, seemingly reading a datapad of some sort. She looked to be about fourteen years old and Ash could have sworn that he had seen her before. She looked up from her pad and over at him, giving him a kind smile, which caused Ash to blush as he attempted to make it seem as if he was not staring. He was practically smitten, even though he had the feeling that that was _not_ her intention, the girl's smile almost turning into a scowl as she looked back down at her datapad.

She was beautiful by any definition of the word and he was surprised that the other boys present were not attempting to make small talk with her, or Bonnie trying to propose to her on Clemont's behalf, though something told him that she was not one for small talk. In fact, he knew that she never really talked unless she actually had something crucial to say. He was shocked at that feeling. Who was she? What was she doing here? How did he know these things about her, he, who could not spot Team Rocket if they kept the same hairstyle while merely changing their clothes? He then wondered what made that flaw of his come to mind. He was also quick to notice that she seemed to be staying in the background, which would have surprised him if he did not know that she was not talkative. What then surprised him was the fact that a Venusaur, that Ash had not noticed in the room before, came up to the girl and stood beside her, looking over her shoulder, prompting her to look back at him, her expression not changing one bit. His eyes then flashed as he suddenly realized that she was the same girl that he had seen in the Pokémon Center.

"Hey Ash, are you okay?" he heard the voice of Clemont ask.

He turned to his friend, snapping out of his funk, him blinking his eyes a couple of times and shaking his head as if trying to get the cobwebs out of it. "Oh, uh, yeah, I'm fine," he eventually stammered in reply. He was not fine, though. The thought of that mysterious girl was turning his mind inside out. Who was she? Why did she have this effect on him? How did he know that she was asking that last question, herself?

"Are you sure?" Clemont pressed. He could tell that something was going on with Ash.

Ash eventually shrugged and answered, "I'm not sure."

"Well, what is it?"

"More like who is it," Ash answered. Clemont gave him a curious look before Ash pointed to the girl in the schoolgirl uniform. She looked to be minding her own business, looking down at a datapad, her field of view not including the two boys, but the moment Ash and Clemont looked over at her, she immediately looked up and over at them, almost as if she had felt their eyes on her. Her sudden movement and stare caused both Ash and Clemont to have to do everything in their power to keep from jumping and giving short shouts of shock. They then saw her sigh and focus back on her datapad.

"Woah," Clemont said, having to avert his eyes from her, an eerie feeling coming over him as he glanced over at her once more. Even so, though, he could not deny that she was beautiful. He then looked over at Ash and asked, "Any idea who she is?"

Ash shook his head. "Uh, uh. But I can't help but shake the feeling that I know her from somewhere."

 _You should_ , he heard a voice blurt in his mind.

"Know who from somewhere," Ash heard Serena ask from behind, her tone of voice indicating her annoyance.

"Her," Clemont answered for Ash, pointing at the girl sitting at the table near the other end of the hall, causing Ash to cringe as Serena turned and glared at him, crossing her arms.

"Eyes wandering already, are they?" Serena accused.

"What? No," Ash blurted, trying to save face in front of Serena. "What are you talkin' about?"

"That girl," Serena answered, pointing to the girl at the table.

He saw Venusaur glance over and say something to the girl. She looked up from the datapad and looked over at Ash and his group, and then back at Venusaur. She then said something to Venusaur that Ash suspected was, "Don't worry about it. He'll be fine, I think," and then went back to reading her datapad, not caring that he was facing the wrath of Serena.

Ash then looked back at Serena, who was still glaring at him. "And to think, I had a surprise planned for you, too."

"I don't think that Ash's feelings towards that girl are romantic," Clemont said, trying to help Ash but only making things worse for him.

"And what might they actually be?" Serena challenged, turning her glare on Clemont, causing the Gym Leader to recoil, him suddenly realizing that it was a mistake to chime in.

"I don't know," Ash answered, probably saving Clemont from a world of hurt. "But it's like I know her from somewhere. I know that that's not possible, though. I think I would remember her if I had met her before. And it's more than just that. Back when you were just talking to me and reaming me, I could swear that after Venusaur said something to her, she said, 'Don't worry about it. He'll be fine, I think'."

"Hmm," Serena frowned, putting her hands on her hips and leaning towards Ash, pulling her dress in desirable directions for the boy that greatly accentuated her figure. Ash's eyes suddenly went wide as he stared at Serena's beauty. Her frown quickly turned upside down and she was smiling sweetly. "Nice recovery, Ash."

Ash breathed a sigh of relief as Serena hugged him. "Don't go away, Ash, I'll be back in a flash," Serena told him, grinning the whole time. She then retreated back behind a large curtain at the other end of the room that had just been lowered.

Ash simply stared as Serena retreated behind the curtain, wondering what she could be planning. Clemont then came over to Ash with a grin. "Way to go Ash," he congratulated the boy, clapping him on the back. "Looks like someone might get lucky tonight."

Something then caused Ash to look back over at the girl and he could see Clemont's younger sister heading over to the girl. "Speakin' of getting lucky," he said, leaving the rest to Clemont's imagination as he pointed to the girl.

Clemont looked over to see Bonnie heading over to the girl, red roses in hand, almost certainly heading over to propose to the girl for Clemont. "Wait! Nooooo!" Clemont cried out in vain as he rushed over to try to intercept his sister, regretting the fact that he had kept his Clemontic Gear with Aipom arm in his hotel room since he could not reach his sister fast enough.

Bonnie either did not hear Clemont or chose to ignore him, for she immediately made her way over to the girl, keeping the roses behind her back. When she arrived, she waited a few seconds before announcing her presence to see if the girl would react to her. When she did not give any indication of noticing Bonnie's presence, Bonnie began the conversation. "Excuse me."

This prompted the girl to look up from her datapad, and Venusaur to look over at Bonnie.

"May I help you?" the girl asked Bonnie.

"May I ask your name?" Bonnie requested, bowing before the girl.

"Uh, Asuka," the girl replied with trepidation. The girl looked uncomfortable as she stared at Bonnie, wondering what the younger girl wanted from her.

"Do you have money?" Bonnie asked.

The girl cocked her head and raised her eyebrows quizzically. Why was she asking her about money? "Why do you ask?" Asuka replied.

"Just curious."

"Well, I have enough to reach Kiloude City for the Battle Maison Tournament," Asuka answered, trying to hide the fact that she had a pretty sizable bank account.

Bonnie then gave a shrug and a smile. That was good enough for her. She immediately stepped forward, knelt down on one knee, offered the flowers to Asuka and made her proposal, "Oh Asuka, will you marry my big brother?" she asked, pointing over to Clemont, who was running towards them trying to stop her wedding proposal, a look of absolute horror on his face as he realized that he was too late.

Clemont was greatly relieved when Asuka curtly answered, "No," and went back down to reading her datapad.

Bonnie was taken completely off guard by the girl's curt answer. "Huh?" she stammered, almost in complete shock at the curtness and certainty of Asuka's answer. That was when Clemont managed to grab hold of her and tried to drag her away, but she would have none of it. She pulled on his grip and eventually managed to wrest her arm free of his grasp. She then charged back over to Asuka and made her pitch once more.

"But Asuka, look at him. He's handsome, well dressed, and he's a Gym Leader," she offered. "He's also really smart and has invented a lot of things, such as the Super Training app for the Player Search System."

"And why would that make me want to marry him?" Asuka replied, not bothering to look up from her datapad. "More importantly, why are _you_ insisting that I marry him?"

"Because my big brother still needs someone to take care of him," Bonnie answered. "And you seem like someone who can do the job."

"Today's my fourteenth birthday," Asuka stated flatly, looking up from her datapad and directly at Bonnie. "I'm well below the age of consent, both for the Kanto Region of Japan _and_ the United States of America, United Earth. I legally can't marry your older brother, who, himself, also looks to be below the age of consent."

"But…" Bonnie began to protest, but Clemont managed to grab her, this time wrapping his arms around her waist and dragging her away.

"You heard her, Bonnie," Clemont told his sister. "We're both below the age of consent. I can't marry her yet."

"Well maybe you could in four years or so," Bonnie retorted with a humph.

Clemont could only sigh as he pulled Bonnie away. The Venusaur then approached Asuka and asked her a question, to which she responded, "No, everything's fine. You can get back to working security."

While Clemont was pulling Bonnie away, Ash came over to Clemont to see how things were going. He gave a smile as Clemont pulled Bonnie away from the girl. He was a little surprised to see Bonnie proposing for Clemont to the girl, though. She usually proposed to women above the age of twenty-one. He thought about asking Bonnie why she proposed to such a young girl, but upon seeing Clemont's reaction, he decided to let it go.

After a few more minutes, Ash was getting ready to head on over to the buffet line in order to have his dinner when the lights went dark. Ash looked around as several dim lights managed to illuminate the tables and the aisles as a voice came in over the loudspeakers, saying, "Your attention please. The party is about to begin. However, before we start, a special showcase has been prepared for Ash Ketchum, who is celebrating his fourteenth birthday today. Please be seated, direct your attention towards the stage, and enjoy the show."

Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie immediately took their seats as the lights began to dim once more. Ash looked towards the stage, which had the large curtain concealing most of it. The curtain then rose and a single spotlight shined on the stage, illuminating the performer. There, Ash saw Serena with long pigtails with blue ribbons, dressed in a white sleeveless blouse with a long black skirt. Standing on her right was Delphox, a tall bipedal fox-like Pokémon with a red coat of fur that resembled a witch's robe, with a stick with a flame on its end in her right hand. On her left was Pangoro, a large, menacing Pokémon that resembled a panda.

The performance began with Serena tapping her foot to a riff from an electric guitar that sounded over the loudspeaker, Delphox waving her wand in time with the music, and Pangoro doing its best to fit in while dancing along with Serena. After the first riff, and dance choreography, Serena began her song. The song was a happy, upbeat song that sounded like it was of the J-pop genre. Ash smiled as he suspected that she chose a J-pop song because he was from Japan.

During the song, Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie watched as Serena sang and danced. At certain intervals, her clothing changed from her uniform to a variety of other uniforms almost as if her next uniform was teleported onto her. One uniform was of her in a white sleeveless dress with a pink tie with a flared pink and white miniskirt, and a top hat with a pink heart on it. Her hair was long and thick when she displayed this dress, much like her original hairstyle from before she had cut it after her first Showcase loss. Another uniform consisted of her wearing glasses, a loose yellow midriff-baring short-sleeved shirt, green short shorts, with a set of suspenders, and a green cap with yellow stars on it. In this outfit, her hair was in a ponytail. She looked like an old style hip-hop artist in this uniform. The last part of the song had her back in her starting uniform with the pigtails. She finished by setting her fingers in the shape of a heart and looking directly at Ash, who was staring at her, enthralled by her beauty and talent.

All throughout the song, Ash and the others had danced in their seats, snapping their fingers and clapping, as did Serena as she sang and danced. Even Pikachu and Bonnie's Dedenne, an orange mouse-like Pokémon with a long tail and whiskers sticking out from its cheeks were dancing to the song. Everyone enjoyed the song and dance and had danced along with it; that was, all but four. Three suspicious hotel workers had been standing in the corner, eying the people present suspiciously. In addition, Asuka did not join in the dancing. In fact, she had cringed during the entire song, wondering, _What am I seeing_? It was something that Ash had caught onto during Serena's performance, though he did not let her dour disposition get him down at all. In addition, the Venusaur that was with her also had the same reaction as she did.

The most surprising thing, though, was that in the middle of the performance, a Chandelure had floated in from another corner of the room and hovered close to the girl. It then relayed some information to her that caused her eyes to go wide with shock. She immediately went took out a datapad and activated it. The faces of Ash, Serena, and other famous Pokémon Trainers and personalities appeared on the tablet such as May, and Dawn, Pokémon Coordinators from Hoenn and Sinnoh, respectively, that had won their regions' Grand Festival Championships. Asuka then thought about the Grand Festivals. She had no feelings about Contests, one way or the other, but most of her Pokémon friends did not like them, viewing them as little more than beauty pageants that had a modicum of battling at the end of them.

After looking at her datapad, she looked up at Serena, who was currently dancing in her hip-hop outfit, sending out Delphox and a purple and white cat-like Pokémon with two streamers called Sylveon. Asuka gave a frown as she watched Serena dance and sing. There was no way that Serena was a Chosen Hero, no way at all. She was a pop idol. According to what she saw, Serena could not have battled her way out of a brown paper bag. Checking the few battle records of Serena on her datapad, her supposition was soon confirmed. Serena's battle record was less than impressive. That was when Chandelure gave her the most shocking news of all. In fact, after Chandelure had relayed the information to her, she blurted out loud, "What? Has Starmie confirmed this?"

As if on cue, a Starmie surreptitiously floated over to Asuka and nodded, relaying the same information to her that Chandelure had. After they had made their reports, she looked at each of them and asked more quietly, "Do you know if the energy is actually affecting her? Could it be her part-Psychic-type Delphox bending light to give the illusion of her various dresses?"

Both Pokémon shook their heads, or rather themselves, in the negative.

"Can you sense where this mysterious energy is coming from?"

Again, the Pokémon shook themselves in the negative. The girl then focused her gaze on Serena as the performer's uniform had changed back into its original attire. This was not good. Both Chandelure and Starmie were powerful psychics, despite the fact that Chandelure was not even part Psychic-type. That meant one of two things, and they were not mutually exclusive: one, that the mysterious psychic energy was being cast by a Dark-type Pokémon and that the energy was possibly laced with Dark-type energy as well, or that the Psychic-type Pokémon that was casting the energy was really powerful; powerful on the level of Legendary or even Super Legendary Pokémon. Asuka then turned to face the stage once more to watch Serena as the song finally ended with one last piano riff.

As the performance ended, and everyone began their applause, Asuka brought Chandelure and Starmie over to her and told them, "Chandelure, you do your best to try and track down the source of that mysterious energy. But whatever you do, make sure you don't attract attention to yourself or get in trouble."

Chandelure nodded in the affirmative and immediately went about attempting to scan the area to try to identify the energy and pinpoint its location. Asuka then turned to Starmie and told it, "Starmie, you stay here with me. I have some ideas on seeing if this energy is truly affecting Serena and if this is why we were called to Kalos two years ago. You can also scan the rest of the people here to see if this energy is affecting anyone else."

Starmie nodded and positioned took its place at a table not too far away from Asuka. Asuka then rose from her table and was about to try to solicit an interview with Serena for her "school newspaper" when she spotted suspicious activity out of the corner of her eye. Three all too familiar faces were scanning the area before grinning and ducking behind the curtain. It appeared as if she would have to put her interview on hold. She immediately put on an earwig and activated it, saying, "Come in team. It looks like Team Rocket didn't get the memo. Stand by for battle."

Asuka then made her way towards a corner of the room where she could see the curtain. She was quickly joined by Venusaur and Jolteon. She wanted to make sure that she had clear sight of the curtain since that was where Team Rocket was likely to strike from. She and the two Pokémon next to her then steeled themselves, preparing for Team Rocket's attack, though all three of them were inwardly smiling. Team Rocket would be in for a big surprise once they made their move.

Meanwhile, back over at Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie, Serena emerged from behind the curtain, joined by Delphox, Pangoro, and Sylveon and approach her, still in her white sleeveless blouse and black skirt, still sporting her pigtails with blue ribbons. Ash saw her coming and he could only grin, something that caused Serena to grin as well. Bonnie gave a mischievous grin, one that was echoed by Pikachu.

"So Ash, what did you think?" Serena asked, smiling the whole time.

"That was amazing," Ash answered, causing Serena's eyes to light up with glee. "How did you manage to change outfits mid-performance like that?"

Serena then revealed a small, circular flat metal object with a single light on it. "I programmed several outfits into this holographic generator. I programmed it to change outfits in a certain order. I simply had Delphox use Psychic to push the button to change the outfit."

"I have to say, I had almost forgotten how good you look in long hair," Ash told her, causing her to blush. "I'm surprised that you didn't grow yours out again after you won the Master Class Pokémon Showcase."

"Well, I guess I just got used to having my hair short," Serena answered. "Do you think I should grow it back out?"

"Do whatever you want," Ash answered, smiling.

"I must say, that was impressive," Ash soon heard Professor Sycamore call as he came over to meet the quartet. Serena looked over at him and gave a friendly smile. "I'm impressed with how you and your Pokémon were in sync during the song, along with how Delphox helped you change uniforms."

"Thanks," Serena said joyfully.

"Pika pika," Pikachu said, smiling as he went over to Serena to congratulate her on her performance. He was not oblivious to Serena's feelings for Ash, nor to the fact that Ash was beginning to share those same feelings. Serena could only smile as Pikachu congratulated her. However, things were about to change drastically.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a robotic arm reached out from behind the curtains and grabbed Pikachu. "Pika!" the electric mouse cried in shock.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried as the arm retracted, pulling Pikachu behind the curtain.

Another arm soon reached out and grabbed Bonnie's Dedenne. "Dedenne!" Bonnie cried out, desperately.

A third arm soon sprang out from behind the curtain and grab Serena's Sylveon. "Sylveon!" Serena cried.

"Who would do this?" Professor Sycamore demanded as he glared at whoever was behind the curtain.

The curtain was then drawn back a second time as Ash, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie looked ahead to face whoever it was that had taken their Pokémon. Soon, several spotlights illuminated the stage, where three workers were standing, one male, the other female, and one looked like either a child or a dwarf. They were attired in standard work clothes, though their hair could easily be seen. One, the adult male, had purple hair and green eyes, while the female had magenta hair and blue eyes. They immediately threw off their uniforms, revealing themselves to be Jessie, James, and Meowth, the trio now clad in their standard white Team Rocket uniforms. That was when they broke out into song, a direct mockery of Serena's performance for Ash:

Jessie & James: You know us as Team Rocket and we fight for what is wrong.

We're tired of our motto so we thought we'd try a song.

Jessie: Jessie!

James: James!

Both: The speed of light! Prepare to fight!

Meowth: Meowth! That's...

Wobbuffet (popping out of his Poké Ball): Wobbuffet!

There was then a pause in the song as Team Rocket danced to the rock'roll music that was playing on the boom box that was near Wobbuffet. Jessie was twirling around and snapping her fingers. She quickly drew her Poké Ball, got up next to Wobbuffet and hit him on the head, doing so as if it was a natural part of the dance. She then returned Wobbuffet into its Poké Ball. Ash and the others could barely contain their laughter. Their singing was so horrible that they were almost able to enjoy it. After the dance, Team Rocket continued to sing:

James: I'm the handsome one.

Jessie: I am the gorgeous one!

Both: Looking good is lots of fun! We get some thing wrong but we keep rolling along!

All: We want to capture Pikachu! And we have done so now. So if you want your

Pikachu free you'll have to give yourself, to our boss!

Wobbuffet (again popping out of his Poké Ball): Wobbuffet!

It was there that the song ended. After the song ended, they immediately heard slow, methodical clapping. They over to see Asuka approaching them, slowly clapping, though her expression was quite dark. Standing at her side were Venusaur and Jolteon.

"Thank you, thank you. You're too kind," they said. But a grin soon twisted Jessie's lips and she added, "But that won't keep us from taking your Pokémon."

Asuka then looked up at them and smiled sarcastically. "No Team Rocket, that's not why I'm applauding," she explained. For a second, they were shocked to hear her refer to them as Team Rocket, as if they had met her somewhere before. "I'm applauding because it was a good song, and you four performed it well."

Team Rocket's eyes became as big as the eyes of a child staring into a room full of presents on Christmas morning. "Really? You really liked the song?" Jessie asked, with her face and eyes aglow, and in a pose as if she was praying that what Asuka was saying was true. _These three must be bigger fools than I thought_ , Asuka thought. But what she said was, "Yeah, you should make a CD. It would really burn up the charts. Heck, you'd probably make Kalos Queen and become an idol."

Then getting an almost sadistic gleam in her eyes along with a devilish grin. "Speaking of burning up," she began. He then turned to Jolteon, and commanded with a sadistic grin, "Jolteon, use Thunderbolt against Team Rocket!"

She shrugged as Jolteon used Thunderbolt on the Team Rocket Trio, realizing a little too late that since Chandelure was not present, that the closest thing to burning them up would be to fry them to a crisp by electrocuting them. She gave a small shrug at the oversight. Team Rocket had other plans, though.

"Wobbuffet, use Mirror Coat!" Jessie commanded.

Jolteon's Thunderbolt almost instantly struck Wobbuffet, but the glow that had just formed around the blue blob-like Pokémon reflected the Thunderbolt right back at Jolteon, causing Jessie to grin. "That won't work on Wobbuffet," she gloated.

She did not notice Asuka begin to grin. The reflected Thunderbolt immediately struck Jolteon, who suffered no damage from his reflected Thunderbolt, causing all three Rockets' eyes to go wide with shock.

"But how?" Jessie stammered, unable to understand how Jolteon's reflected attack could not inflict damage on Jolteon.

"That's Jolteon's Volt Absorb," Clemont explained to Ash, saying it in a tone that was quiet enough to not be overheard by Team Rocket. "It allows a Pokémon that is hit by an electric attack to absorb the attack and convert it into health."

Back at Team Rocket, they were about to ready Wobbuffet to reflect another attack when a Garchomp appeared behind Wobbuffet and used Dragon Claw, raking her claws across Wobbuffet's back. The attack took Wobbuffet completely off guard and inflicted horrifying damage to the blue blob-like Pokémon. Still, despite the hit, Wobbuffet was not down yet. However, it would not last long, for with the damage it sustained from Garchomp's Dragon Claw, it was now vulnerable to a plethora of other techniques.

Venusaur quickly unleashed an Energy Ball on Wobbuffet, no longer having to worry about Mirror Coat. The green ball of energy raced towards Wobbuffet as Jessie commanded in a high-pitched voice, "Wobbuffet, use Mirror Coat again!"

Wobbuffet complied, but it would not be enough, for the Mirror Coat would not be able to protect it from the power of Venusaur's Energy Ball due to the damage it had taken from Garchomp's Dragon Claw. The Mirror Coat flared as the Energy Ball struck it but the Energy Ball managed to overpower the protective barrier and score a direct hit on Wobbuffet, managing to take it out of the fight, the explosion sending Wobbuffet flying into the Trio, causing them to drop the arms that contained Pikachu, Dedenne, and Sylveon.

Just then, Starmie appeared and used Psychic to shatter the arms and free the captive Pokémon. Pikachu immediately ran back to Ash, with Dedenne running back to Bonnie, and Sylveon running over to Serena. When they had reunited with their Trainers, they each turned and focused on Team Rocket, causing Team Rocket to cringe. However, Team Rocket soon found their backbone and decided to make a fight of it. Jessie and James then grabbed their Poké Balls and tossed them out in front of them so they could fight.

"Go, Gourgeist!" Jessie commanded. Her Poké Ball opened and revealed a large, floating orange pumpkin-like Pokémon.

"Go Malamar!" James echoed. His Poké Ball then opened to reveal a dark purple squid-like Pokémon that looked like an upside down squid. It had two white tentacles that it used for legs in addition to two long white tentacles that it used as its arms. It also had a number of yellow markings on its front and back.

The appearance of Malamar also heralded the return of Asuka's Chandelure, who relayed the fact that Malamar did not have a presence but it still seemed to emit psychic energy, something that caused Asuka to take notice of the Pokémon. She would not have much time to study Malamar, save for how it got fried by Pikachu's Thunderbolt when Ash ordered his friend to use the attack on Malamar. Electricity arced across Malamar's body and the Pokémon's body seized up and the Pokémon gave a grunt of discomfort.

"Greninja, I choose you!" Ash cried as he tossed a Poké Ball onto the scene. Immediately, a dark blue bipedal frog-like Pokémon appeared before Ash with its tongue wrapped around its neck as a scarf. Greninja gave a deep, "Greninja," as it was called out onto the battlefield.

"Greninja, use Dark Pulse on Malamar!" Ash cried.

Greninja obeyed and formed a ball of black and purple circles in each hand. It then combined the balls into one and fired a beam of black and purple circles at Malamar. Malamar saw the attack coming and used Psybeam to counter it, but Dark Pulse's Dark typing allowed Greninja's attack to easily overpower Malamar's Psybeam. The Dark Pulse struck Malamar and knocked it backwards, and right into James, knocking him to the ground. As for Malamar, the swirls in its eyes indicated that it was clearly unable to battle. However, that was not the only battle going on. Jessie's Gourgeist also wanted a piece of the action.

Jessie's Gourgeist went to avenge Malamar's loss by firing a series of seeds at Greninja. With Greninja being too distracted by Malamar, it did not see the seeds coming until it was too late and the seeds landed on it, immediately sprouting into roots that attached themselves to the ground. Greninja could then feel its energy being drained from it. The frog-like Pokémon struggled against the roots, but the constant draining of its strength made breaking free seem like an insurmountable task. However, help would soon arrive in the form of Chandelure, who unleashed a Fire Blast on Gourgeist, finishing it off in one hit. The stick figure-shaped blast of flame struck the Pokémon straight in the center of mass and it immediately was blown back into Jessie, knocking her down, the swirls appearing in Gourgeist's eyes showing that it was no longer able to battle.

Seeing Team Rocket being down for the count, Ash decided that it was time to send them blasting off. He looked over to Pikachu and then cried, "Pikachu, finish this with Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu complied, unleashing a Thunderbolt on Team Rocket, which caused a massive explosion on the stage and sent them flying into one of the fireplaces, which just so happened to have a fire going. The fire then burned the three Rockets and their fainted Pokémon and sent them flying up the chimney as they cried, "We're blasting off again!" Wobbuffet giving off one last cry before they became a star-like gleam in the distance.

Back at the party, Ash and his party shrugged. "I shoulda known that _they_ would try something," Ash lamented, looking around and hoping that the damage was not too great. There was minor damage to buffet line, which would take about fifteen minutes to fix. There was more noticeable damage done to the tables, with several of them being overturned, as well as to the stage and its props. Still, it would not be too big of a deal. It would just delay the party and the feast a bit longer, which was not actually all that bad for Ash and his friends.

"Don't worry about it," Clemont assured them. "If anything, this will give us an opportunity for me to test out my new invention." A gleam then came to his eyes as he gave a cocky grin. "Yes, the future is now thanks to science!" he proclaimed in a proud tone. This caused Bonnie to cringe, Serena's expression to turn into one of uncertainty and caution.

"This invention will allow us to fix the area in less than half the time," Clemont explained as he revealed his backpack and pushed a button. "Clemontic Gear on."

Upon pushing the button, the backpack instantly transformed into a massive gray bipedal robot with a dustpan in one hand, and a vacuum in another. There were also small arms emerging from the larger arm with the dustpan that had brushes on them. Clemont looked at his creation in awe. Ash had a more extreme reaction, his eyes widening and sparkling with delight.

"Wow, science is so amazing!" he exclaimed at the top of his voice.

"Let's just hope this invention works properly," Bonnie uttered skeptically. Serena had to side with Bonnie on this one. She had seen too many of Clemont's inventions fail and explode spectacularly to not be concerned. As for Asuka, she simply looked on, not familiar with Clemont's past, but she still had a bad feeling about what was about to happen.

At first, the robot appeared to be doing fine. It was cleaning up the floor without trouble, and far faster than a human would. It would go around to the overturned tables and set them right, also replacing the tablecloths on them and even picking up the broken pieces of glass and china, using something inside of it to even repair them to the same state that they had been in before their destruction. It was as if they had not even been damaged in the first place. However, as had happened more often than not with his inventions, something went wrong. The robot began to shudder as it approached Ash and his party, which caused Bonnie to go, "Uh, oh," in an ominous tone.

Asuka was smart enough to retreat, suggesting, "Maybe we should back away and let the robot do its work."

"Nah, no need to worry," Ash countered, using the catchphrase of one of his best friends of the past, Dawn. "Everything'll be just fine."

The moment he uttered those fateful words, the robot stopped for a moment and began to smoke. It then began to flail about, causing Ash to look at it curiously. Clemont, his face aghast at the malfunctioning robot, immediately went over to it in order to shut it off so he could try to diagnose the problem so he could repair it. Asuka was not having any of it, though, and she quickly rushed over to Ash and pulled him along. "Let's go," she cried as she pulled him away from what was likely going to be the blast zone if the robot exploded.

Clemont went over to the robot and pushed the "off" button. When he did so, nothing happened. The robot continued to malfunction and flail about, this time shooting some of the damaged china towards a wall, causing the china to shatter into thousands of shards. It also rushed over to a table and began smashing it, bringing both hands down on it. It even attempted to use its vacuum to suck in Serena's wig, along with Bonnie's Dedenne.

"Turn this thing off!" Serena cried desperately as she attempted to keep her wig from becoming the robot's next meal.

"I'm trying!" Clemont cried in response, pushing the off button repeatedly, trying to shut it off. When that did not work, he went over to its maintenance hatch on the robot's back so he could shut it off the old fashioned way. However, the moment he opened the hatch, a light shown from the inside and he cried, "Take cover!"

Serena, Bonnie, and the others attempted to take cover as the robot promptly exploded, sending dirt and debris in all directions. Despite the explosion, though, no one was severely injured, the worst that happened to anyone in the blast was having their faces covered with soot and having frazzled and poofy hair from the electricity. Ash had managed to escape that fate, mostly thanks to Asuka, who had pulled him out of the blast zone before the robot went up, but Serena, Clemont, Bonnie, and others were not so lucky. Even Professor Sycamore and Diantha had frazzled hair from the explosion. Clemont could only moan in disappointment. Bonnie had a worse reaction.

"Nice going big brother," Bonnie quipped sarcastically. "This was the perfect present for Ash, wasn't it?"

"Come on, Bonnie, it was an accident," Serena said, sticking up for Clemont and trying to calm tensions.

"Speaking of Ash, where is he?" Clemont asked, noticing that Ash was not with Serena and Bonnie.

The group looked around and it was Bonnie who spotted him with Asuka. "Over there," she said, pointing to Ash and Asuka.

Over at Ash and Asuka, the girl was looking back at the scene and then back at Ash. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think," Ash eventually answered. He then turned to her and saw the girl clearly for the first time. There was no doubting it now. This was the same girl he had seen in the Pokémon Center. Besides her uniform, the only thing that was different was that she now wore glasses. He did not know if they were merely for cosmetic purposes or if she actually needed them. He then noticed that she was still holding his hand and his face flushed.

"Good," she answered, letting go of his hand. She then stared him in the eye and said, "You owe me."

Ash could only chuckle nervously. "I guess I do." He did not know where this was going but it could either turn out to not be bad, or turn out to be very embarrassing.

"How about you let me interview you as payment?" the girl suggested cheerfully. "I'm a reporter for my school newspaper and I'm interviewing champions. I've already interviewed Diantha. It would be my honor to interview you, too. By the way, I'm Asuka. Asuka Makinami."

"Hi, I'm Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town," the boy replied, extending his hand. "You're putting me in some pretty good company," Ash noted, not really giving an answer. The moment their hands touched, it was like lightning had struck him and he had to fight the urge to recoil in surprise. It was an uncomfortable feeling and he was suddenly keenly aware of her beauty. Yet, there was something about her that was different, as if his feelings for her were not, and _should not_ be romantic. He then let go of her hand when he realized that he had not released it yet.

"So is that a yes?" Asuka asked in the same cheerful tone as before.

"Hey Ash, are you okay?" he heard Serena ask from behind before he could give his answer, causing him to cringe. The last thing he wanted was for Serena to become jealous and for there to be a fight.

He turned around and saw Serena coming towards him, along with Clemont and Bonnie. Each of them had soot covering their clothes and their hair still being frazzled. Knowing Serena, she would likely have to change. Heck, all of them probably wanted to have a shower and a fresh set of clothes after that disaster. He eventually answered, "Uh, yeah, for the moment," he added cautiously.

"I see you've made a new friend," she said, taking stock of Asuka, who had escaped the explosion unharmed in any way.

"She pulled me away at the last moment just before the robot exploded," Ash explained. His explanation did little to satisfy Serena, who only saw a very beautiful young teenaged girl that had a noticeable figure for her age, wearing a short red miniskirt. It was obvious that she saw Asuka as competition. Asuka merely nodded, not daring to say anything even though romance was the furthest thing from her mind.

"So, I see that you all emerged more or less unharmed," the group heard Professor Sycamore state. They turned to see the professor, his white lab coat covered in soot and his hair still being frazzled.

"So how long will it be now?" Clemont asked.

"Given everything that happened, it'll be about a half hour to forty-five minutes before dinner," he answered.

"Are you and Diantha staying for the party?" Ash asked.

"I'll still be here but I may be a while. I have to change out of these dirty clothes and probably wash up, too."

"I wish I could stay, but I have to change and then catch up on some work," Diantha answered. "There have been rumors of Team Flare's reemergence and I want to make sure that they are just that, rumors. And if not, the Elite Four and I will have to deal with them." With that, the Kalos League Champion waved goodbye and wished Ash, "Happy birthday, Ash." She then departed the room, leaving Ash with his friends.

"We should get changing too," Clemont suggested.

Serena could not disagree with Clemont's suggestion, though she was not comfortable about leaving Ash alone with Asuka. She seemed too cheerful and happy. More importantly, she was too beautiful. A part of her knew that she was overreacting to the girl's presence, especially since Ash was not hitting on her at all, but another part of her was greatly concerned. Eventually, she told Ash, "Well, I guess I should go and freshen up." She then walked a few feet away before adding in a sensuous tone, "Don't go away, now." She then smiled sweetly at Ash, and glared at Asuka. Despite usually being oblivious to romance, Ash could tell that Serena was jealous.

"Don't worry Serena," he assured her. "I'll join you for dinner, and dancing."

Serena gave sly and sensuous smile at Ash's statement. "I'll hold you to that dancing part," she told him as she darted off to the ladies' room so she could freshen up and change. Clemont and Bonnie also did likewise, going to various stations where they could take showers and change into new sets of clothes.

Once Serena and the others had departed, Ash looked over at Asuka, who was staring at him, smiling. Her smile caused him to become a little nervous. "So, about that interview," the girl said, continuing from her previous conversation.

"Well, we should get it over with before dinner," Ash stated, not really wanting to do the interview but knowing that Asuka would not take 'no' for an answer. As such, he decided that it was best to get it over with as quickly as possible so that the interview would not be given while Serena was present. As such, he then went over to the nearest table and sat down.

Asuka quickly joined him and sat at a chair across from him. With that, she placed her backpack beside her chair and took out a pencil and some paper so she could take notes. It was then that the interview got started.

Meanwhile, over at Professor Sycamore's lab, a helicopter flew over the Pokémon lab. As it passed over the lab, a hatch opened and two figures dressed in orange suits with orange hair and orange sunglasses jumped out of the hatch. They fell through the air for a moment before they pulled a string and a glider emerged from the backpack and the two figures grabbed the handles for their gliders and rode the currents of wind, descending to the lab. After a while, they touched down on the lab's roof. Once they did so, they discarded their gliders and took off their helmets, revealing one of them to be male, the other, female. One of them then flipped up their jacket's collar and said, "Flare Two to Flare One, we've landed. Stand by. We'll call you when we're ready for extraction."

"Roger that Flare Two. We'll fly the holding pattern until you call," came the response.

Once the communication was finished, the two Flares on the lab's roof quickly made their way to a skylight. At the skylight, the male Team Flare grunt produced a glasscutter and proceeded to cut a hole in the skylight. The squeak of the blade cutting the glass caused the female grunt to cringe as she waited for the hole to be cut. Once the hole was cut, she produced a long rope and tied it to a post on one end of the roof. Once she had tied the knot, she and the male pulled on it together to make sure that the knot held. When they were certain that the knot held firm, the female grunt tossed the other end of the rope through the hole. Once the rope was in the hole, the male grunt looked at the female grunt and asked, "Will you be okay in there alone, babe?"

"I'm never alone, darling," the female grunt answered. "I've got you." She then kissed the male Team Flare Grunt on the lips. With that, she proceeded to make her way to the rope. "Wish me luck," she said as she lowered herself down into the lab.

"Good luck," the male Grunt wished.

Inside the lab, the female Grunt took out a flashlight and turned it on, illuminating the room. That was when she began her mission. Her primary objective was to search for the professor's personal computer and download all of the data on it. Friends of the professor who were secretly agents of Team Flare had informed their leader, Lysandre, that the professor had a list of strong Pokémon Trainers, Trainers that either were, or could become, a threat to Team Flare.

It did not take long for the Grunt to find the computer. She grinned as she made her way over to the computer. Once she reached it, she turned it on, the screen asking for the username and password. The female grunt quickly took out a USB flash drive and plugged it into the USB port. Once inside, she the program on the USB flash drive instantly input the professor's username and password. The Grunt grinned. She was in sooner than expected. She then proceeded to copy all of the files on the computer onto her flash drive.

The download of all of the files took a little more than three minutes. There were a ton of files on the computer, but Team Flare was only interested in one file: the one that listed all known Pokémon Trainers from the past year and their current locations. With that, the newly reorganized Team Flare could launch a blitzkrieg on the Trainers and neutralize the threat they posed to Team Flare and its mission to bring a more beautiful world. Once the download was complete, the Grunt pulled the flash drive from the computer and turned it off. Now it was time to begin the second part of her mission.

The second part of her mission was to find all of the Mega Rings and Mega Stones that the professor had in his possession. With those, they could Mega Evolve their Pokémon and hopefully manage to defeat the Champion, Diantha, as well as any Trainer that dared to oppose them. Given the fact that there was a tournament occurring in Kiloude City in one week's time, Lysandre wanted to get as many Mega Rings and Mega Stones to give to his strongest supporters as quickly as possible.

She made her way through the door and deeper into the lab. One of the advantages of striking after business hours was that it was less likely that there would be a lot of workers, i.e. witnesses, present so the chances of being detected were much smaller. It would also allow for a much greater haul.

She quickly made her way down the corridor and over into the secret storage area. When she reached the door, she found that it needed a cardkey. She grimaced as she scanned the lock to see if it could be hacked. Unfortunately, it could not. However, she did have another item that could allow her into the vault. The only problem was that it had a significant chance of alerting any security personnel and/or workers to her presence. Still, she felt as if the haul was worth it and she decided to go for broke. She took out a small metallic device and attached it to the lock. A few beeps sounded and soon a series of popping sounds occurred. The lock sparked and began to melt as the door slid open. However, as the door slid open, an alarm sounded.

"Damn," she swore. "I'll have to hurry."

She quickly scoured the area for any sign of Mega Rings or some similar structure that could hold a Key Stone. Sure enough, she found a series of Mega Rings, Mega Bangles, etcetera, each containing a Key Stone. She took off her backpack and stuffed the Mega items into the pack. She then scanned the area for Mega Stones. While she knew that only a few would be useful, she knew that she did not have the time to search for the Houndoominites or Manectites so she just decided to stuff as many Mega Stones into her backpack as possible.

As she was doing so, she heard the footfalls of numerous workers or security personnel coming and she knew that it was time to go. She quickly slung the backpack over her shoulder and retreated back the way she came. She made her way back to her infiltration point and quickly made her way over to the rope. When she reached it, she cried out, "Pull me up! Pull me up!"

The male Grunt on the roof instantly sprang into action at the sound of his partner's cries. He went over to the rope and immediately pulled up his partner. Once the woman had reached the roof, she activated her radio and cried, "Flare One, this is Flare Two. We don't have enough time for a stealthy extraction. Head back to base. We'll head on over to the labs by glider."

"Roger that, good luck," came the voice of the helicopter pilot.

As the helicopter pulled away, the two Team Flare Grunts made their way over to their discarded gliders and opened them up again. Once they were open, they ran to the edge of the roof and used them to glide off of the roof, and well away from the lab, hopefully without being spotted. After they were away, they adjusted their course so that they would be headed towards Lysandre Labs. Little did they know, though, that they had been spotted by someone on the ground. However, that person had gone inside Professor Sycamore's lab to get a report before deciding to do anything else.

Back inside the lab, security personnel were clamoring around the lab to find the intruders and/or find out what they may have taken, if anything. Several security personnel saw the melted lock to the vault and, when they got inside, they saw that the Mega Rings and Mega Stones were missing, with the few remaining Mega Stones being littered on the floor. Another team had entered Professor Sycamore's office and had found the hole in the skylight, easily large enough to fit a person. They also found signs that the professor's personal computer had been hacked.

Sina and Dexio and come up to the professor's office to hear the report and to check to make sure that nothing was missing. When they arrived, they saw the security officers pouring over the room, giving them a bad feeling. One of the officers then came over to him to make his report.

"Sir and ma'am, we've discovered that the professor's computer was hacked, for there has been recent unauthorized activity," the officer reported.

"What was taken?" Sina asked.

"We don't know," the officer answered. "Nothing is missing from the computer, itself. But that just means that whoever did this could have copied the files onto a thumb drive. More disturbing, however, is the fact that the intruder managed to steal all of the Mega Rings in the vault and a large number of Mega Stones as well."

Sina and Dexio's eyes went wide with horror. "Oh no," Dexio murmured. "If the intruders have that many Mega Rings and Mega Stones, they could start a small army."

"One that could punch well above its weight class," the officer finished.

"We have to let the professor know," Sina stated.

Dexio nodded and the two proceeded to make their way down to the lobby so that they could make their dire report to the professor. They only hoped that whoever had stolen those items was merely seeking money, rather than serving a more malevolent interest.

Meanwhile, down in the lobby, a man had overheard the whole report that the security official had made to Professor Sycamore's two assistants. The man, Meyer, was a tall man with short brown hair, long sideburns, and a beard. He was accompanied by a Blaziken, a bipedal chicken-like Pokémon whose body was mostly red with accents of beige, yellow, and gray.

He had listened to the report and had remembered seeing two people using gliders gliding away from the lab towards Magenta Plaza. After the report had been given, Meyer looked over at Blaziken and said, "It looks like its time for us to go into action."

Blaziken nodded and the two retreated from the lab. Blaziken Mask was about to prowl the streets of Lumiose City once more. And Meyer had a very good idea of where the thieves were headed, for if the gliders' colors were any indication, they were likely associated with Team Flare.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Back at the party, Ash was sitting down for his interview with Asuka. Asuka took out a notepad and pencil from her backpack, along with a recording device that resembled an old twentieth century tape player. She placed the device on the table but did not push the record button just yet.

"Shall we get started?" she asked, smiling at Ash, which caused him to give a nervous smile back.

"Okay," Ash answered hesitantly. He still could not figure out why Asuka was having such an effect on him. Where did he know her from?

She then pushed one of the two buttons on the recorder, causing a green light to turn on, indicating that the device was recording.

"Okay, first question, and this is a gimme. What is your name?"

"I'm Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town," the boy answered proudly.

"Pallet Town of the Kanto Region of Japan, correct?"

Ash nodded. He was surprised that she recognized Pallet Town as being in Japan. Then he remembered that Professor Oak worked there, so she had probably heard of it through possibly studying Professor Oak.

"Okay, next question: what are your goals in life?" Asuka asked cheerfully, giving another smile.

"To be the world's greatest Pokémon Master," Ash proclaimed proudly.

"And what does it take to become a Pokémon Master?"

That question took Ash a little off guard. He thought about it for several moments. Indeed, what _did_ make a Pokémon Master? Was it becoming a Pokémon League Champion? Was it being the strongest Champion in the world? Or was there more to it than that?

Eventually, Ash answered, "I haven't really thought about it. I've taken it to mean that I have to be the best Trainer in the world but I haven't really heard of a manual that directly states exactly what a Pokémon Master is."

"And you've been to several Pokémon World regions, correct?"

Ash nodded again. "Yep. I've been to seven regions all told."

"And how many Leagues have you won?"

"I've won some tournaments," Ash answered sheepishly since the actual reason why he was able to participate in the Battle Maison Tournament was because his wins in the Orange League and in the Kanto Battle Frontier were finally recognized as being sufficient League victories for allowance into the Battle Maison Tournament. Asuka was quick to notice that Ash did not name the League, or Leagues, that he had won, assuming he had actually won any. Both the Orange League and the Kanto Battle Frontier, while challenging, were not considered major Leagues and were not recognized by many Champions tournaments, despite their difficulty, particularly the Orange League and its Champion, Drake. She decided not to press him on it, though. She had a different purpose for this interview.

"So why come back to Kalos?" Asuka then asked. "You've participated in a number of other regional Leagues, right?"

Ash nodded, having to suppress a sigh of relief. He was relieved that she was not asking a follow up question on his number of League wins.

"So again, why come back to Kalos? What makes the Kalos Region, or Kalos League different?" This question was given in a more serious tone of voice, though she still asked it in such a way as to try to not make him too uncomfortable. He also got the impression that she was personally curious as to his answer. However, Ash stammered a bit in his reply, the question obviously making him less comfortable than he had been before. He was suddenly wishing that she _had_ followed up on his number of League wins.

"Uh, well, there's the Battle Maison Tournament in one week's time in Kiloude City," came Ash's answer. "I'm using my Orange League and Kanto Battle Frontier wins as the entry price for the tournament," he volunteered, trying to get away from the question and change the subject.

"Hmm, that's interesting," Asuka answered, seemingly taking the bait. "The Orange League is a tough League. Very few people have ever beaten Drake. You'd need a strong team to beat him."

"Well, I had a lot of strong Pokémon in that battle, particularly Charizard and Pikachu."

"And yet you didn't use them in many of your other Leagues," Asuka noted.

"I've always used Pikachu," Ash countered. "He's my starter and best buddy."

"And Charizard?"

"I used him in Kanto, the Orange Islands, Battle Frontier, and in Kalos," Ash answered.

"But it takes more than a couple strong Pokémon to win a battle," Asuka said, almost as if she were noting it for future reference.

Ash nodded. Asuka then looked over at him and gave a mischievous smile. "So in most Leagues, you never fought at your best. That's rather foolish, don't you think?"

Ash's eyes went wide at the accusation. He was about to blurt a comeback when he stopped for a moment and considered her assessment, something that greatly surprised him. Eventually, he answered, "I guess so."

Asuka then smiled once more, this time without the mischievous edge. "So no one knows just what you're capable of when using your strongest team."

"I guess not," Ash answered, shrugging.

Asuka then gave a sly smile. "Well, I look forward to finding out."

She then let out a small laugh that was more than a giggle but not as strong as a regular laugh. Still, it was one of the most beautiful sounds that Ash had ever heard, especially coming from her. He then gave a little chuckle as well, something that the girl was quick to notice, but she seemed to not know why he was chuckling.

"What?" she asked, seemingly wondering if she had done something funny or embarrassing.

"Oh, nothing," Ash answered. "I just found it funny that you were laughing. Is the interview done?"

"Nope," Asuka answered, shaking her head and giving another mischievous smile. "That was just part one. Here's part two."

Ash gave a sigh, which only prompted the girl to smile some more. "These questions may be a little more personal. I am, after all, curious about the various Trainers that will be participating in the Battle Maison Tournament. Okay, next question: what Pokémon are you the closest to?"

"Oh, that's easy. It's Pikachu," Ash proclaimed proudly, looking over at Pikachu.

"Pika pika," Pikachu exclaimed, throwing his fist into the air, showing Asuka that he was just as close to Ash as Ash was to him.

"And your strongest?" came the girl's next question.

Ash was about to blurt out Charizard but something stopped him. He studied Asuka and wondered why she was so interested in his team. Anyway, he decided that it would be best to not give her a straight answer. "I'm not certain," he eventually answered. "I have several Pokémon that could take that top spot, Pikachu included."

"I see," Asuka answered thoughtfully, considering Ash's answer. "Well, this question is about to get a little personal, so get ready."

"I'm ready," Ash answered. He then noticed Asuka turn off the recorder, which caused him to grow a little concerned at what the next question would be.

"What really brought you back to Kalos? The Battle Maison Tournament was a convenient excuse to come here, but that's a week away. Why are you here so soon?" Asuka asked, leaning in. It was obvious that she was very eager to hear Ash's answer.

Ash was caught off guard by Asuka's question and he was at a loss for words, or rather, it seemed that way. He actually did know why he chose Kalos as his destination, rather than Unova for its World Tournament. The World Tournament had plenty of divisions that he was eligible for, but Kalos had something else.

"Is it Serena?" Asuka asked.

Ash's mouth hung open and he blushed when she asked the question.

"It is, isn't it? I knew it!" the girl exclaimed. She then calmed down as she continued, "Well, she most certainly has a thing for you, Ash Ketchum. And now I know that you have a thing for her, too."

"Uh, maybe," Ash said in an uncertain tone. He then blushed again and admitted, "Yeah."

"Does she know?" Asuka asked mischievously.

"I haven't told her directly," Ash answered.

"Why not?"

Ash considered her question. Why had he not told Serena how he felt about her? She had made it quite clear how she felt about him. Was he too shy? Was he simply scared to take it to the next level? Then another question came to his mind. What was causing this sudden surge of feelings towards Serena? He had not felt this strongly when he had decided to come back to Kalos. Yes, he liked Serena as a friend. He even thought that she was pretty, but he was not interested in her romantically. Heck, he had never had any real romantic interests and the only crush he had ever experienced was on Giselle, and her personality made it so that it would have gone nowhere. But with Serena, it was different. She was nice and she was pretty, but there was still something holding him back. However, he did not know what it was. He did know, though, that it was not just age.

To the point of Asuka's question, he eventually answered, "I don't know."

Asuka did not frown at the response. "Well, at least you're honest." She then paused and said, "Well anyway, let's get back to the interview." She then turned the recording device back on. "One thing I wondered since I learned that you were from Kanto is this: why have you traveled the world and gone to various Pokémon Leagues? You have yet to win the Kanto League Indigo Conference, right?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah, you're right. But I thought it was called the Indigo League."

"So why have you traveled the world and not tried the Kanto League again?" Asuka asked, ignoring Ash's statement about the League's name. That was not important to her. "You probably would have won it if you used your Orange League Team, especially since the Orange League is said to be tougher than the Kanto League, even if it's not seen as an official League."

Ash's eyes flashed. That thought had never crossed his mind. He had never thought about the prospect of competing in the Kanto League again. He then thought on his Kanto journey and cringed. More than half of his Kanto Badges were 'Pity Badges'. He had gotten them for helping out someone or because the Gym Leaders saw something in him that they liked, not because he had actually earned them by defeating them in Pokémon Battles. At the time, he did not care. He had simply gotten the badges, but now, thinking back on it, he felt as if he had not really earned those badges. If he had it to do over again, he would have gone back and fought those Gym Leaders once again for the badges, not merely accept them for doing a kind deed. Another question then came to mind. Could he possibly have not competed in Kanto again because he did not want to go back and get all of the other badges? He had had trouble in many of those gyms, particularly Saffron City's Gym Leader, Sabrina. No, he figured, shaking his head. That was not it. He had grown so much since his journey began. He could probably beat them now. Still, why did Asuka's question haunt him so much? Heck, a number of her questions were haunting him.

"Hello, Earth to Ash," Asuka blurted, snapping her fingers, and snapping him out of his reverie in the process. "Are you there?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm here," Ash answered, shooting up.

"So, my question still stands. Why haven't you tried the Kanto League again?"

"I don't know," Ash eventually admitted. "You know, your interview is giving me a lot to think about at the moment. Are there anymore questions you want to ask?"

"Just a couple," Asuka answered cheerfully. "And yes, these will make you think some more. Your brain isn't hurting right now, is it?" she asked facetiously with a mischievous grin plastered onto her face.

"Uh, not yet," Ash said hesitantly, dreading what Asuka was about to ask him.

"Excellent!" Asuka exclaimed. "Now, next to last question, and this follows up on the fact that you haven't yet tried the Kanto League again. When was the last time you visited home?"

"Huh?" Ash asked, not knowing why she was asking that question.

"The question is simple enough. When was the last time you were in Kanto? Have you gone home and visited your family? I've always found that a good family can help keep one grounded in reality and help one focus on what really matters."

"It's been a while," Ash answered. "I mean, I visit every now and again, but I rarely stay home for any length of time. As a Trainer, I'm always on the go."

"I've noticed that about a lot of Trainers," the girl noted, almost wistfully. "Okay, on to the last question," she then declared, not missing a beat. "What are your plans after you finally become a Pokémon Master?"

Finally, Asuka had asked him a question that he could answer without having to think too much or dance around the answer. "I haven't really thought about it," the boy answered. "I'm mainly focused on actually becoming a Pokémon Master at the moment."

Asuka did not have an immediate comment to Ash's answer. She merely smiled and he wondered if she was thinking of a witty comment or of another question. Eventually she spoke again. "Well, I thank you for the interview Ash Ketchum. I also wish you luck in the Battle Maison Tournament. This interview has now concluded. You can go back to your party now."

With that, she turned off the recording device and put it in her backpack. She then packed away her paper and pencil. Ash gave a sigh of relief when she packed everything away. His discomfort had not gone unnoticed by the girl.

"You did well in the interview," she told him, giving him a kind and understanding smile, trying to alleviate some of his discomfort. "I know that some of the questions were personal. But if you want my advice, I would think about some of them. Many Trainers I've met may have cheerful exteriors, but in reality aren't all that happy. Ten is an awfully young age to leave home and go on a journey. I know that it's their choice, but I still think that there's something off about it, and those Trainers haven't given me any reason to think otherwise."

"You've given me a lot to think about, Asuka," Ash answered.

"Oh, one more thing," Asuka added.

Ash then drew in closer. "Stay close to your friends and family, all of them," she told him. "In the end, they are the most important people in your life."

Ash smiled and nodded. With that, Asuka went back to her table to wait for the dinner to begin. Ash watched Asuka as she headed on over to her table, her Venusaur, or what he assumed to be her Venusaur, quick to join her. There was something about Asuka's advice that really resonated with him. He was always close to his friends, but this group was different. While he had been visited by some of his past friends during his adventures, this group was the first group that he had actually returned to visit, himself. He then began to feel a little down. His friends had been so good to him, coming to visit him on occasion, yet he had never gone back to visit them, himself, until now. He then made a note to himself to go visit Hoenn and Sinnoh after the Battle Maison Tournament was over. With the interview over, Ash searched for an empty table that could seat four people comfortably. After finding the table, he sat down and waited for his friends to return.

After a few minutes, Serena returned to the Grand Versailles Ballroom. She was clad in her glittering black minidress and she scanned the ballroom for Ash. Finding him sitting by himself at a table not too far away from the buffet line, she made her way over to him, smiling all the while. Ash returned her smile before his eyes went wide at the sight of her. She was beautiful, and ever since his interview with Asuka, he was noticing more and more just how beautiful she was.

When she arrived, she quickly took her seat next to him and slid the chair close to him. Smiling at him, she asked, "So, how did the interview go?"

"It went fine," Ash answered, not wanting to get into any specifics about the interview.

"And what did she ask you?"

"Oh, the usual stuff," the boy answered in a tone that Serena took to be coy, though in reality, was Ash being flustered since Serena seemed to be giving him an interview now.

"Such as?"

"Oh, she wondered who I was, where I came from, why I was here, my dreams for the future, that sort of thing."

"I see," Serena said, knowing that Ash was keeping some things from her. "What else?"

"Uh, it's private," Ash stammered in reply, not wanting to go into intimate details about the interview. Besides, he had a lot of things to think about before giving her an answer.

"Did she ask you a lot of personal questions," Serena asked in a mischievous tone. Her question gave Ash no comfort but he viewed it best to be honest with her.

"Some," he admitted. "And I'd rather not focus on what they were at the moment. Right now, I just wanna eat. I'm hungry."

"Well, the buffet should be ready pretty soon," Serena said, looking over at the buffet line. The final touches were being made to the buffet tables and trays. Ash looked over at it eagerly. They were likely only a few minutes away, but given how both dealing with Team Rocket and having to go through the interview with Asuka had given him quite an appetite, those few minutes were likely going to be an eternity for the boy.

After a couple of minutes, Clemont and Bonnie entered the ballroom once more, both siblings having cleaned up nicely from the accident earlier and being clad in virtually identical clothing. They quickly found Ash and Serena sitting at a table not too far from the stage and went over to join them.

"Hi everyone," Clemont said, pulling out a chair for his sister, which she quickly took. "Has the dinner started yet?"

Both Ash and Serena shook their heads. Clemont gave a chuckle.

"I should have figured," he said, looking over at Ash. "You don't have plates overflowing with food."

That brought a laugh from the whole table, Ash included. One thing that everyone knew about Ash was his incredible appetite. That was one thing that amazed Serena a great deal. How could he eat so much food and not gain weight? As they all laughed, Serena's eyes were drawn to a table at the other end of the buffet line. There, she saw Asuka looking over at them. Despite the distance, for the life of her, she thought that she could see the girl smile as the four of them laughed.

During the few minutes that remained until the buffet started, the group made small talk with one another. Ash regaled the party with his adventures in other regions, starting with his start as a Pokémon Trainer. He talked about the various Leagues, as well as alternative competitions of some regions, such as the Contests and Super Contests of Hoenn and Sinnoh respectively. He also talked about his previous traveling companions like Misty, Brock, May, and Dawn. Serena almost glared at him when he mentioned the three girls. However, he described them merely by their goals, rather than by any features, which put her mind a little more at ease.

Soon, it was Serena's turn to talk. She had described her path to becoming Kalos Queen, as well as the fact that a record company had approached her about becoming an idol shortly after Ash had left to continue his journey. She described how nerve-racking her first idol performance had been. It was not all that different than her usual Showcases, but it had still been something new to her. Showcases had not had singing in them so she had not focused on singing before. As such that was the thing that had concerned her the most when testing to see if she could become an idol. However, she had shown herself to have a good voice, which she had demonstrated for Ash earlier, and was quick to tell them that she would be glad to give her friends a private performance, with a not so subtle wink to Ash, which caused him to blush.

When it was Clemont's turn to talk, he told them that his life at the gym since Ash had left to continue with his journey had been pretty boring. There was one Trainer that was making waves in the Pokémon Battling community named Calem. He had been a famous Pokémon Trainer as a child but had become a recluse after an incident with the media and paparazzi. He had recently defeated Diantha and had become the Kalos Pokémon League Champion. He had also fought against Team Flare numerous times and had swept Clemont when he had gone for his Voltage Badge. He had been the only Trainer to sweep Clemont since Ash had departed Kalos. He also talked about several of his inventions, including new versions of Super Training as well as some Super Training tournaments that he was organizing. He had also heard of a new Sky Trainer academy opening in Vaniville Town. Serena looked up and asked him about the Sky Trainer Academy. He merely shrugged, though, and said that he did not know much about it, only that it taught aspiring Trainers how to become Sky Trainers and taught the rules for Sky Battles. In essence, it was no different from the current Sky Trainer Academy located in Vaniville Town.

It was not long before a chime rang and the chef announced, "Attention, everyone. The buffet line is now ready. You and your Pokémon can eat to your hearts' content."

That was Ash's cue to rocket out of his seat and begin the feast. As he did so, he took out all of his Poké Balls and cried, "Everyone, come on out!"

He tossed his Poké Balls into the air and out came all of his Pokémon. The first was Greninja, followed by Talonflame, an avian Pokémon with a predominantly red-orange coloring with some gray parts and black tips on its long, pointed wings; Hawlucha, a relatively small, shorter than Ash, bipedal bird-like Pokémon with a green and red bird-like head, white chest and legs, red arms, and a red wing-like cape with green undersides that is connected to its tail; Noivern, a large bat-like Pokémon with enormous ears that looked like boom box speakers; and Goodra.

"Okay everyone, the dinner has just begun," Ash proclaimed. "Dig in!"

The Pokémon all gave cries of approval and proceeded to make their way over to the trays of Pokémon food. As the group rushed over to the buffet trays, Asuka simply watched the scene and smiled. Her Venusaur gave a curious glance at her, as did her Jolteon. They gave murmurs as to what she may have been thinking when she turned to them and asked, "What?"

The Pokémon immediately looked away, embarrassed to have been gossiping, likely about her. Asuka then turned back to see Ash and the others, Ash grabbing heaping portions of food from the trays, with Pikachu doing likewise. She gave a chuckle at the scene. He always did have an appetite.

Meanwhile, out in the northern section of Lumiose City, the two Team Flare Grunts were making their way through Centrico Plaza towards Lumiose City's Magenta Plaza. They came to a narrow street that led to a café with an orange roof on it. The Grunts looked back in order to make sure that they were not being followed before they made their way towards the café.

As they turned around, though, Meyer, who was now dressed in a uniform that resembled a Blaziken complete with mask, earning him the name Blaziken Mask, emerged from the shadows, along with his Blaziken. They watched from the shadows as the grunts made their way into the café. Meyer, knowing the café's connection to Lysandre Labs and Team Flare, emerged from the shadows and followed the Grunts towards the café, hoping to catch them and be able to identify where any other remnants of Team Flare may have been located, followed closely by Blaziken.

He carefully made his way over to the café, instructing Blaziken to keep watch so that they would not be caught off guard by any traps or ambushes that Team Flare may have set up. When they were certain that they had not been spotted, the duo entered the café.

Inside the café, they found the two Grunts heading behind a china cabinet that had just retracted to reveal the entrance to Lysandre Labs. When he entered, the Grunts looked back and their eyes went wide with shock and horror. "Oh crap, it's Blaziken Mask!" the male cried.

"Oh no!" the female cried. She then turned to the two workers behind the bar and cried, "Hold him off!"

The two Team Flare bartenders a male and female dressed in bartender uniforms looked at the Grunts and then back at Meyer and retorted, "What are you, nuts? There's no way we're a match for a Successor!"

"It's either that, or you face the boss," the two Grunts cried as they retreated into the hideout.

"Ugh, fine," the two bartenders answered as they proceeded to jump over the bar and land in front of Blaziken Mask. Meyer focused his gaze on them and gave them a stern look.

"If you step aside and tell us who your leader is, I'll forget I saw you," he offered.

"Yeah, uh, no," the male bartender answered mockingly. "It looks like you only brought your Blaziken, so it looks like we outnumber you." The two bartenders then took out their Poké Balls and held them out in front of them, trying to intimidate the masked hero. They had two Pokémon to his Blaziken.

Blaziken Mask merely smirked. "If that's all you have, I won't even need to Mega Evolve Blaziken to defeat you," he countered.

The two Poké Balls then opened and out came a Scrafty and a Liepard. The grunts grinned as the two Pokémon came out. Both Pokémon were part Dark-type, which made this an uphill battle for the unfortunate Grunts.

Meyer then shifted his gaze between the two Pokémon. Scrafty was a bipedal loosely lizard-like Pokémon with a red crest on its head that resembled a mohawk. It had an orange body with loose yellow skin that hang down from the shoulders. Meanwhile, Liepard was a graceful purple cat-like Pokémon with yellow rosettes and a yellow underbelly. The fact that both Pokémon were part Dark-type caused Meyer to grin. They were fighting at a type disadvantage against a Pokémon that was not only fast, but also had Speed Boost as its ability, which would allow it to get faster as the battle went on.

"Scrafty, use Foul Play!" the male Grunt commanded.

"Liepard, you use Foul Play, too!" the female Grunt ordered.

Meyer could only grin. This would be too easy. There was no way that these two Grunts would be foolish enough to attack with a technique that Blaziken was strong against. The two Pokémon were charging towards Blaziken, who patiently awaited their coming attacks. He wanted them to be within point blank range before launching any attack. Scrafty was in the lead and it was the first to come, and would be the first to fall.

"Blaziken, use High Jump Kick!" Meyer commanded.

Blaziken then jumped straight towards Scrafty, thrusting his leg out in front of him. Blaziken's aim was too good and he scored a direct hit on the Dark/Fighting-type Pokémon inflicting double damage to the unfortunate Team Flare Pokémon. The kick struck Scrafty in the chest and sent him flying backwards, past the Grunts, and into the wall, where it cracked the wall, leaving an indent in the shape of the Pokémon, and slid down to the floor, unconscious.

Meanwhile, Liepard was not about to let Blaziken off the hook. The female cat-like Pokémon reached the Fire/Fighting-type Blaziken and was about to strike him using Foul Play when Blaziken used High Jump Kick on Liepard. Blaziken's foot collided with the Liepard in the center of mass and sent it sailing through the air. Despite being a cat, Liepard did not land on her feet, the cat-like Pokémon landing on her back instead and skidding along the floor, the swirls in her eyes showing that she had fainted, and that Meyer was the victor.

The Grunts stared at the scene in horror. Meyer had defeated their Pokémon effortlessly. "Oh no, what do we do now?" the female bartender grunt stammered.

Meyer then looked squarely at them, Blaziken falling in next to him. "Now here's the deal," he told them sternly. "You tell me where the two Grunts I was chasing went in the lab, and I'll consider not outing you as Team Flare members."

The two Grunts gave grimace, which soon turned into a grin. "No," they answered, grinning. Meyer was not deterred and, indeed, gave his own grin.

"Then I guess we'll have to do this the hard way, at least for you. For me, this will be the 'not quite as easy way'."

The Grunts wondered what that meant, and Blaziken was quick to answer them. He rushed over to each Grunt and punched them on the side of the head, knocking them unconscious using one hit for each Pokémon. Once the Grunts were unconscious, he took out some rope and bound their hands. As he did so, he saw a card key fall from the pocket of the female Grunt to the floor. He then picked up the card and put them in his own pocket.

Once the Grunts were dealt with, he made his way over to the china cabinet. Knowing that the cabinet hid the entrance to Lysandre Labs, she proceeded to make his way towards the cabinet. Looking over at Blaziken, he nodded. Blaziken then stepped forward and pulled back the china cabinet with his bare hands. As the cabinet was pulled back, a narrow entrance was revealed that led into a dark tunnel. Meyer and Blaziken then made their way into the tunnel, and into Lysandre Labs.

Inside Lysandre Labs, the group came across an elevator, along with several spin tiles and warp tiles. These were used when Team Flare had been in the lab in order to create a maze for anyone intruding into the labs as a security precaution. Now that the lab was deserted, though, the tiles did not appear to be functioning. Meyer tested his theory by stepping on one of the tiles. Sure enough, nothing happened. As he got close to the elevator, though, he could see that it was still functional, something that puzzled him. He then proceeded to make his way to the elevator and marked its location, quickly noticing that it required a card key to operate. Once there, he saw that it required the use of a card key. He ignored the elevator for the time being and decided to explore the first basement level, wanting to make certain that this level was unoccupied before going deeper into the base.

Back at the party, Ash sat at the table, with two plates practically overflowing with food. Ash held two fruit sandwiches in his hands and was making quick work of them. Serena and Bonnie laughed as Ash ate. They had seen it so many times before but it still amazed them how he managed to eat so much and remain as slim as he was. Clemont looked on, amazed at how much Ash could eat.

"Slow down, Ash, you won't have any room for desert," he cautioned.

"Nah, don't worry about that," Ash assured him. "I'll be fine. I could eat the whole cake."

Clemont, and even Serena and Bonnie, looked at him skeptically. Still, they did not push the issue. They just decided to let him celebrate his birthday. It was, after all, _his_ birthday. As for Ash, he had not eaten much before the dinner, so he was ready to eat a whole day's worth of meals for himself in one sitting.

As he was eating, he glanced over at the table where Asuka was sitting and noticed her staring at her datapad. Sitting before her was a plate with a half-eaten sandwich on it. He could not tell from this distance, but he suspected that it was a tuna fish sandwich. Suddenly, he wondered why he would suspect that her sandwich was a tuna sandwich. Not only that, but he wondered why he was almost certain that he was correct in his supposition. He looked over at the table and noticed the girl periodically look up from her pad and glance over at him, smiling. He could practically feel the warmth emanating from her, which was strange since he thought that she was nothing more than a schoolgirl with a group of evolved Pokémon. Still, looking over at her table and seeing the Pokémon with her, as well as how she handled herself against Team Rocket, he began to suspect that there was something more to her than met the eye.

He then focused back on his friends, one of who, Serena, was staring at him intently, a look of disapproval crossing her face.

"What are you looking at, Ash Ketchum?" she asked in a suspicious tone.

"I think that Asuka's looking at us," Ash answered.

"Asuka?" Serena asked suspiciously, casting a sideways glance towards Ash.

"That's the girl that Bonnie tried to propose to on my behalf," Clemont answered, still embarrassed by the whole scenario.

"If only she were a few years older," Bonnie lamented.

Ash only let out a nervous laugh as Serena glared at Bonnie. He then saw Serena look a little flustered, as if the one thing she wanted more than anything else at the moment was a mirror. Soon, though, the others started talking about other things, such as their plans for after the party and any upgrades to the gym. Serena said that she was about to start negotiations for a record deal. If they went through, she would be on the map internationally.

"Wow, that's wonderful," Ash said, proud of her accomplishment. He did not harbor any jealousy towards her accomplishments at all, even though others may have. Serena was fulfilling her dreams only two years after she had started on her initial journey, and even then, it had taken a couple of months for her to truly discover her dream. Now, she was known all around Kalos, and had the chance to be famous around the world. While he was about to participate in the Battle Maison Tournament, which would be broadcast worldwide, he knew that it was not the same as Serena's accomplishment. Still, that did not matter to Ash in the slightest. He could feel nothing but joy for Serena's accomplishments, something that he realized others would not necessarily feel for her if they had come up short so many times in their own dreams.

"I may have to travel a lot if I accept the deal," she told him, almost hesitantly. "I'm not sure I'm ready to do that just yet."

"Well, whatever you do, we'll support you all the way," Ash declared. Clemont and Bonnie nodded in agreement.

While they were talking, Asuka had decided to walk over to them. She smiled kindly as she approached them but Ash could tell that she was studying each of them very carefully. She was especially interested in Serena for some reason. When she arrived stood near Ash's chair and then headed on over to Serena's.

"Hello, am I interrupting anything?" she asked in a kind voice.

Clemont and Bonnie's eyes went almost blank before flashing with shock as they saw her stand close to Ash's chair. To them, she looked just like a female version of Ash, albeit with different colored eyes. Could they be related to each other? Their facial structure was far too similar for it to be coincidence in their minds. Ash looked at the siblings curiously but they did not say anything to indicate their feelings about the two of them and how closely they resembled each other.

"No, not really," Ash said in answer to Asuka's question, not skipping a beat. He then stood up and offered her his chair, asking, "Would you like to join us?"

"No, thank you," Asuka politely declined. "I was hoping that I could do a short interview with Serena."

Serena did not give an immediate answer.

"I thought that you were interested in Pokémon Trainers and Champions," Ash said.

"From what I can tell, Pokémon Performers are technically Trainers, too," Asuka told him, though her tone indicated that she felt as if they did not deserve that distinction. "My paper wants me to interview all types of Trainers. Since there aren't any Coordinators in Kalos, I'll have to make do with Pokémon Performers. And it just so happens that your girlfriend is the Kalos Queen."

Ash immediately blushed when Asuka mentioned Serena as his girlfriend, something that caused Serena to smile, Clemont to give a short chuckle, and Bonnie to almost burst at the seams, giggling.

"Well, if you put it like that, then okay," Serena answered.

Ash then looked at Asuka suspiciously, almost as if she added that note about Serena being his girlfriend just to convince her to do the interview. _Well played, Asuka_ , he thought.

She then cast a glance and a mischievous smile at him, almost as if she had heard what he had thought. He then almost heard a cocky _I know_ , echo in his mind. It was spooky. Either way, though, Asuka smiled at the party, but gave Ash a smile that was very close to resembling a grin, almost as if she had won at some game that he did not know they were playing. Serena then rose and went over to an unoccupied table not far away. It would be within earshot of the party if they did not have their own conversations and they focused their attention on the interview. However, with the din of the other guests and the chefs discussing things, it was doubtful that they would hear anything unless either Asuka or Serena were loud.

Over at the table, Serena sat down across from Asuka as she took out a pen and paper. Ash noticed from his own table that she did not take out the recording device. He began to study Asuka, wondering what her plan was since her interview with Serena was not like the interview that she had given him. He began to suspect that her interview with him was serving some ulterior purpose. Once everything was set up, Asuka began the interview.

"Okay, let's begin," the girl began. "My name is Asuka Makinami. May I ask your name?"

"Serena," Serena answered, not giving her last name.

"And what are your dreams?"

"Well, I've already accomplished one of my dreams, to become the Kalos Queen."

"And your other dreams?" Asuka inquired.

"Well, I'm also a Pokémon Idol, but I have yet to participate in any competition for it," Serena answered. "I'm also about to negotiate a record deal that will have me perform all around the world."

"And how does this all relate to Pokémon?" Asuka asked.

"Well, in both Pokémon Showcases and in Idol performances, you not only show off your own talent, but that of your Pokémon as well."

"Are there any battles in Pokémon Showcases or Idol competitions?" Asuka already suspected that the answer would be no, which was quickly confirmed by Serena, herself.

"Mm, mm," Serena said, shaking her head in the negative. "There's no battling in Showcases or Idol performances."

"That's odd," Asuka noted. "How do you get Pokémon to volunteer to join you? If you don't battle, capturing Pokémon becomes a lot more difficult."

"Well, I never said I didn't battle," Serena corrected. "I've battled alongside Ash on occasion, especially against Team Rocket."

Asuka's gaze narrowed at the mention of Team Rocket and she took a moment to sit back in her chair, closing her eyes for a few moments, as if trying to calm herself. Serena noticed that something was wrong and asked, "Is everything okay?"

"Huh?" Asuka muttered, opening her eyes and looking back at Serena, seeing the concerned expression on her face. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. It's just that I have a past with Team Rocket."

"What sort of past?" Serena asked, leaning forward.

"I'm sorry but I'm the one who's supposed to be asking questions here," Asuka said evenly. After a moment she shifted her position in her seat and then continued, "Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, how often have you battled at Ash's side?"

"A fair bit," Serena answered. "I've battled not only against Team Rocket, but also some times against my friend and rival, Shauna, as well as against Team Flare."

"Team Flare?" Asuka asked. "I heard that they were not pathetic. But then again, Team Rocket isn't exactly weak, either."

"Well, the Team Rocket I've faced are this trio of, well, incompetent fools, even though they are annoying," Serena answered. "Team Flare was much more serious a threat."

"And they are beaten?"

"So far," Serena answered in an uncertain tone. "We never found out what happened to their boss, Lysandre. Some say he died in the destruction of the weapon, others say that he is still alive out there. Either way, Team Flare has not surfaced since their last defeat."

"And how much of a role did you play in that?"

"Not too much of one," Serena answered. "Ash did most of the work."

"I see," Asuka said with a smile. "You seem to be close to Ash."

Serena blushed at the statement. "I am," she answered shyly.

"Why the shy tone?" Asuka asked, leaning forward, a mischievous grin plastered on her face. "How does he feel about you?"

"I think he likes me," she answered awkwardly. "His best friend is Pikachu, though."

"I heard," Asuka said, almost chuckling. "But friends, even best friends, and girlfriends are two different things. Well, back to the questions. Have you told him how you feel?"

"What?" Serena gasped, her eyes going wide with shock at the question, though she realized that she should have seen it coming.

"It's a simple enough question," Asuka pressed. "Have you told him how you feel?"

"Well, uh, not…directly," Serena stammered, looking down at the table, blushing, barely able to get the answer out.

Asuka suppressed a giggle at Serena's discomfort. "Well you should get on the ball, then," she stated in a tone that was more than just a suggestion. "Well, enough about your love life, let's get back to the interview."

"Yes, let's," Serena said eagerly, nodding, wanting to get away from talk about romance.

"Okay then, I only have one more question to ask you."

Serena waited in anticipation of Asuka's question, almost dreading what it would be. "Here it is," Asuka proclaimed proudly, grinning. "What are your dreams for the future?"

"Hey, haven't you already asked me that question?" Serena asked, casting a sideways glance at Asuka.

"Yeah," Asuka answered nodding gleefully. "And you didn't give me an answer. Besides, I added 'for the future'." She then paused for a moment before asking once more, "So, what are your dreams for the future?"

Serena was not discomfited by the question, but she still struggled to find an answer. The truth was that she had not really thought all that far ahead. She was going to consider that record deal but she was not even certain about doing that. Her primary goal had been to become the Kalos Queen and she had accomplished that.

In the end, she answered honestly, "I don't know." She then paused, trying to think about what her dreams for the future may actually be. "I haven't thought that far ahead. I'm not even certain that I'm going to sign that record deal, or even continue being an idol," she added quietly.

"Oh, why's that?" Asuka asked in a curious and serious tone. To Serena, it was almost as if it was a different person asking the question.

"Huh, oh, I thought that your previous question was the last question," Serena stammered in answer flustered, not expecting Asuka to follow up with another question.

"It was," Asuka told her. "But I'm curious as to why you wouldn't continue being an idol or sign that record deal if you're popular and talented. Don't you like singing, dancing, and performing with your Pokémon?"

"Uh, yes," Serena answered, nodding. She then gave a nervous laugh and said, "I do. Forget what I just said. I'll go on to become a superstar idol and performer! Ha, ha, ha," she finished with nervous laughter.

"Okay," Asuka said, seemingly sincerely but there was something underneath her tone that indicated that she did not believe Serena at all. Still, she did not press Serena any harder and told her, "Very well, this interview has concluded. You may return to Ash now."

"Thanks," Serena said nervously, her mind suddenly awhirl with questions conflicting feelings. The interview had not gone the way she had expected, and the things that were confusing her were not the things she would have expected to be confusing.

As Serena headed back over to Ash's table, she glanced behind her to see Chandelure appear next to her. "Well, did you sense anything strange during the interview?" she asked.

Chandelure nodded and then transmitted the information to her telepathically. As it did so, Asuka's expression darkened a bit. "I see," she said. She then sighed. "So she was being honest when she said that her dream was to be an idol and performer."

Chandelure nodded once more and soon said, "Chandelure, shan." After Asuka's Pokédex translated the statement, her eyes went wide.

"What?" she blurted. "So she was also being completely honest when she said that she was not certain?"

Chandelure nodded again.

"Well, it appears as if we have a mystery on our hands," she stated, looking thoughtful. "Who is the real Serena?" she finished.

Chandelure seemed to lower itself a few inches, as if it was shrugging. "Anyway, I think there may be a way we can find out who the real Serena is. Now the only question is whether or not Ash is also being affected," she added quietly, focusing her attention on Ash's table. She then grinned. "And there's only one real way to find out with him," she added in an anticipatory tone.

Meanwhile, back in Lysandre Labs, Meyer was making his way through the lab in order to try to find the two grunts that had escaped Professor Sycamore's lab with the Mega Rings, Mega Stones, and data from the professor's personal computer. His trek through the first basement level had turned up nothing. The entire area was completely deserted. Even the computers were not turned on. And when he had turned on the computers, they had no information on them to speak of. It was obvious that the lab had been abandoned for some time. That meant that the next question was why the Grunts had come back to this lab in the first place. He decided that his best bet would be to check the lower levels in order to make certain that the lab was, indeed, deserted. Making his way back to the elevator, he took the card key needed to operate the elevator out of his pocket and put it in the slot. A green light shown, along with a single beep, indicating that the elevator was now operational. The elevator doors then opened and granted him access to the lab's lower floors. As he stepped into the elevator, he had a feeling that the lab may not have been as deserted as it seemed.

When the doors opened and he stepped out, he found himself in a long, narrow corridor. Blaziken followed closely as he fingered his Key Stone. Looking back at Blaziken, he said, "Blaziken, use Flamethrower to give us some light."

Blaziken nodded and stepped forward, sending out a blast of flame that illuminated the entire corridor. Save for some gray walls, there seemed to be nothing on this floor at first. However, Meyer soon spotted what looked to be a cell at the end of the corridor. He rushed forward, Blaziken hot on his heels, making his way down the corridor until he reached its end. To his right, he saw a cell that had signs of having been occupied not too long ago, for there was a meal set on a table that looked to be not that old, only a day or so at the oldest.

"That's strange," Meyer mused, stroking his beard. Still, he figured that there was little else he would find on this level. He then backtracked towards the elevator and rode it down to basement level three.

When the doors opened, the two found themselves in a short corridor that quickly came to a dead end, save for a second corridor to their right. Going through the short corridor, they soon found themselves in a much larger room with several tables and a large screen with two buttons, one green, the other orange. Meyer recognized the screen as the machine that had once operated the Ultimate Weapon.

As he approached the machine, he noticed that it was active, for the lights were flashing. Remembering what he had read about the machine, he knew that it was almost certainly being used to either activate another Ultimate Weapon, or possibly the original Ultimate Weapon, assuming it had been repaired. Wasting no time, he charged towards the machine, but when he did so, all of the doors suddenly shut and scarlet light flooded the area. Meyer's eyes went wide as he realized that he had just triggered a trap of some sort. Looking at the screen, he saw the numbers counting down, _10…9…8…7…6…5…4..._

Blaziken did not wait for any orders. His Mega Stone resonating with Meyer's Key Stone, Blaziken immediately Mega Evolved into Mega Blaziken. Mega Blaziken was very similar to his original form, only with the hair-like feathers now curling upwards, as well as him losing his yellow markings and gaining black ones on his legs, with the colors now being reversed with the red being on the lower parts of the legs while the black was on the upper half. In addition, two streams of flame emerged from each wrist.

Once he had Mega Evolved, he immediately grabbed Meyer and rushed towards the elevator, hoping that they would make it before the lab self-destructed. However, they would not be fast enough, for the moment they reached the elevator, the countdown reached zero and the bomb inside the meeting room exploded. The explosion blew out the wall, which was not too bad in and of itself. The problem came from the fact that the entire base was rigged to self-destruct and, as a result, there were many more explosions. The entire roof collapsed onto the third basement level, Blaziken doing everything in his power to ensure that Meyer did not suffer any injury.

Using his incredible jumping skills, he jumped up the falling stones, kicking away those that were in danger of crushing them. Jumping up each stone with more grace than a professional athlete, he managed to make it back the first basement level before the base's roof completely collapsed. They were just within sight of the lab's exit when a series of rocks fell in front of it, blocking the exit. Both Meyer and Mega Blaziken grimaced. Their only hope of escape was now blocked. With rocks falling all around them, all Mega Blaziken could do was huddle over Meyer and hope that he could prevent his master and friend from being crushed. As he did so, the rest of the ceiling fell on top of them.

Outside the lab, watching from the distance, an obese man dressed in an orange suit with a gray glove on his left hand, and orange tufts of hair on a mostly bald head looked on, accompanied by a thin woman with pink hair that fell past her shoulders, with orange glasses, dressed in a black tank top that left her navel exposed and red pants with cream diamond-shaped patterns, watched as Lysandre Labs collapsed. The café, itself, did not suffer much damage, but there were signs of trouble and they could already hear the sirens of fire trucks and ambulances coming the scene. Both the man and woman grinned at the scene. The man's name was Xerosic, and the woman was Malva. They were both members of Team Flare with Xerosic being one of the chief scientists of the organization, and Malva, being a reporter, using her media connections to recruit members to the organization while hiding them from any real public scrutiny. Standing next to them was a single Malamar. The Malamar's eyes glowed as it used Psychic to ensure that there were no survivors of the collapse. When the Malamar was convinced that no one had survived, or would survive, it looked back at Xerosic and shook its head.

"Excellent," Xerosic said, almost cooing. "The boss will be pleased."

"Good, now we can begin the second phase of our plan," Malva said.

"I'll alert Lysandre immediately," Xerosic said, taking out a cell phone. Dialing it, he waited as a ringtone sounded a few times before an answer came.

"Is it done?" the voice of Lysandre asked in a cold tone.

"Part one is," Xerosic answered. "We've dealt with Blaziken Mask."

"Excellent," Lysandre cooed. "That will almost certainly result in Diantha coming to investigate. Malva is to deal with Diantha and the professor. The death of Blaziken Mask along with the theft of the Mega Stones and Mega Rings will almost certainly force Sycamore to call upon Diantha for support. You and the other scientists are to deal with the other threat. The next Champion of Kalos must not be allowed to survive. He could potentially destroy us if he meets up with Ash and his friends."

"Understood, sir," Xerosic answered. "And I have a plan to defeat him." He then hung up the phone.

When he turned off the phone and placed it in his pocket, Malva asked, "What are Lysandre's orders?"

"You are to deal with Diantha, Professor Sycamore, and the Defenders of Kalos," Xerosic answered. "I'm to deal with the Boy Champion."

"Understood," Malva answered.

When they were finished, Xerosic turned to the Malamar at his side and told it, "You come with me. We will need your special talents in order to deal with Calem."

The Malamar grinned. It had always relished controlling people and enslaving them to its will. It was, after all, the leader of a cult of Malamar that had grown in size fairly recently and had since pledged itself to Team Flare. Before departing with Xerosic, it telepathically looked in one last time on its two brethren in order to make sure that they were fulfilling their roles in this operation. It was essential that none of the Chosen Heroes managed to discover their plans until it was too late for them to do anything to stop them.

Had the Pokémon and Team Flare members monitored the scene for even a few moments longer, they would have seen some rocks fly out from the lab's entrance. There, in the makeshift exit, stood Meyer along with his Blaziken, assisted by Diantha and her Gardevoir, who had Mega Evolved into Mega Gardevoir. Once the exit was clear, the quartet fled the lab, stones falling behind them, collapsing the entrance once again.

Upon their exit, Meyer was breathing heavily, before turning to Diantha. "Thanks. We'd have been killed had you not showed up when you did."

"Thank Mega Gardevoir for sensing you being in trouble," Diantha answered. She then turned to her Pokémon, who had reverted back into her normal form, and said, "You did great back there, Gardevoir; you deserve a good rest." She then pulled out her Poké Ball and returned the Pokémon back to her Poké Ball. She then turned to Meyer and continued, "When we heard that you had gone to Lysandre Café, Gardevoir scanned the area and found several people present, all of them with one thought on their mind, besides your demise: Team Flare."

"I suspected as much," Meyer sighed. "They're back."

Diantha nodded gravely. "And chances are that if they discover that you survived this trap, they'll come after you again."

"And they'll likely be going after anyone who could still be a threat to them." Meyer than thought back to Clemont and Bonnie, the latter of who had befriended a Zygarde Core that had escaped the villainous team and had been pursued by Team Flare for quite some time before Team Flare had been defeated. He also remembered Ash's part in stopping Team Flare as well as the parts his friends, including his son, Clemont. He then thought back to Professor Sycamore, who had access to Mega Rings, Key Stones, and Mega Stones. He also thought back to the fact that Sycamore also had a Garchomp that could Mega Evolve. Would he be Team Flare's next target?

"I'll go alert Professor Sycamore to the situation and Team Flare's return," Meyer told Diantha.

"And I'll call a meeting of the Elite Four," Diantha answered. "We'll all have to work together if we're going to beat a resurgent Team Flare."

"What about Malva?" Meyer asked. "Will she be with us, or with them?"

"That's what the meeting will determine," Diantha answered.

With that, the two proceeded to leave the area, Meyer heading towards Professor Sycamore's Lab, and Diantha proceeding towards Estival Avenue. She needed to get back to Pokémon League Headquarters as quickly as possible.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Back at the party, Professor Sycamore brought the birthday cake out and placed before Ash and his friends. It was a marble cake topped with vanilla icing and fourteen lit candles that were red, blue, green, and yellow. It looked large enough to easily feed a dozen people, even though only five people were at the table. Next came several gallons of ice cream of a variety of flavors, from chocolate to vanilla, along with strawberry, Mint Chocolate Chip, Snickerdoodle, Lick-the-Beater, and many others. Ash grinned as he saw the cake and ice cream, and as he looked at the array of sweets, he glanced upward to see Asuka sitting at her table, staring longingly at the cake. Chandelure and Venusaur then went over to her and said something, which caused her to get a mischievous gleam in her eyes. She then fluttered her eyelashes as if she were practicing looking cute and adorable. He suddenly became very protective of the birthday cake, feeling that she could eat about as much of it as he could, which was to say all of it.

Once the cake was placed before them, the group gathered around and placed a cone-shaped paper birthday hat on Ash's head. Serena grinned as Ash gave a shy smile and she began to lead them in song, "Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Ash Ketchum. Happy birthday to you. And many more," Serena added sensuously at the end, leaning in towards the birthday boy and giving him a playful wink.

Ash then took in a deep breath let it out at all of the candles, extinguishing them all in one breath. The group applauded his accomplishment, each of them smiling joyfully at the scene. After he had blown out the candles, it came time to cut the cake and serve it. Professor Sycamore took out the cake knife and cut out a large rectangular piece that was gigantic and looked like it could have served as a small meal. As usual, Ash received the first piece and the professor also put on two scoops of vanilla ice cream. Ash eagerly took the slice of cake and went to work, eating it as the professor served the others.

The others were then served their cake and ice cream as well, none of the other slices being nearly as large as Ash's. Once they were all served, they simply sat down and ate their cake. True to his word, Ash had no problem eating the massive slice of cake along with the two scoops of ice cream. Once he was finished, he went for seconds, his next slice being even bigger than before. He also got two more scoops of ice cream, only he went with the Snickerdoodle ice cream this time around.

After a while, the group had finally had their fill, everyone going back for seconds, with Ash going back for thirds. Professor Sycamore was surprised at how much of the cake had been eaten, for only the equivalent of a few large slices remained, with most of the ice cream having already been eaten as well. He was about to dispose of it when Asuka came over and looked longingly at the cake, looking at both him and then at Ash and smiling.

"It would be a shame for that cake to go to waste," she said mischievously.

"Don't worry, it won't," Ash assured her.

"I know," Asuka answered. She then grinned and took out a plate and placed the remainder of the cake on her plate. She then went over to the ice cream and got a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of Snickerdoodle ice cream and placed them next to the cake. She then returned to her table, smiling sweetly at Ash all the way back. Serena scowled at the girl, but Ash did not have a problem with her taking what was left of the cake. He had already eaten enough anyway.

After the cake was finished, it came time to give Ash his presents. Clemont went first, giving him the Super Training App for his Player Search System and Holo Caster. Bonnie then came up and gave him a Pikachu plush doll. It was not much but she could not think of what else to give him and since his best friend was Pikachu, she thought that a Pikachu doll would be best. He thanked her and Clemont for both gifts, quickly putting his Pikachu plushie in his backpack.

After Clemont and Bonnie had given him their gifts, Serena went up to him and handed him a small rectangular device. "I know that you are a Pokémon Trainer, so I thought that you could use this," she said nervously.

Ash looked at it and went, "Cool, what is it?"

"It's Poké Radar," Serena answered. "With this, you'll be able to find hidden Pokémon on your journey."

"Wow, thanks," Ash exclaimed, taking the device and connecting it to his Holo Caster.

After the gifts had been exchanged, Ash was about to head out when Asuka approached him, holding a box. When she reached him, she told him, "Ash, since this is your birthday, and since I got a lot of birthday cake from you, I just thought it would be right for me to give you something in return for the wonderful cake and ice cream."

Serena's eyes went wide as she saw her give the box to Ash. The box only looked large enough to hold a ring of some sort. Ash accepted the box, saying, "Thanks." He then opened it and Serena dreaded what was inside. Ash's eyes lit up when he looked over at Asuka and told her, "I can't accept this."

Serena looked over at the box and saw that it contained a Mega Stone, which she did not recognize as Charizardite X. She breathed an audible sigh of relief, prompting Ash to look over at her curiously as she did so.

"Take it, Ash," Asuka insisted. "I found this on my travels and I have no need of it since I don't have a Charizard. You, however, do."

"How do you know I have a Charizard?" Ash asked, wondering if he should be more suspicious of the girl.

"I make it a point to study Pokémon Trainers that have made names for themselves. You are one such Trainer, having competed in no less than seven Leagues. Your Charizard defeated an Articuno. That is impressive in and of itself."

"Uh, thanks," Ash said, scratching his cheek. "I'll be sure to give it to Charizard and continue to train him in Mega Evolution."

Asuka smiled as Ash put the Charizardite X, in his backpack.

After the group had given Ash his birthday presents, Serena looked up and saw that a karaoke stage had been set up. Some people were already on stage, crooning into the microphone. Serena then looked over at Ash and smiled. "So, how would you like to do some karaoke?" she asked.

"Well, I've never done karaoke before," Ash said, nervously, scratching the back of his head.

He was about to continue and accept Serena's offer when Clemont interrupted, saying, "Come on, Ash, you'll do fine."

"Yeah, go for it," Bonnie echoed.

"Sure, why not?" he eventually said. "I was about to accept her offer anyway."

"So why not have a karaoke competition?" Bonnie suggested.

"Huh?" Clemont blurted, dreading what Bonnie meant since he was an awful singer.

"You heard me big brother," Bonnie replied. "We'll have a karaoke competition. Serena and Ash can compete against the two of us."

"But I can't sing," Clemont almost whined, wanting to avoid embarrassing himself by singing karaoke. His pleas fell on deaf ears, though.

"But we need you to make it an even four," Bonnie insisted. "Besides, there are already singers up there, we can have a competition against them."

"Why not ask Asuka to do it?"

"Huh?" Bonnie asked, looking over at the older girl, considering the possibility.

"What?" the group heard Asuka blurt from her table as she rocketed up from her seat. "No!" she declared emphatically, immediately putting the kibosh on that idea, or so she believed. Venusaur and the other Pokémon gathered around her, save for Garchomp, however, were laughing at her discomfort. Garchomp merely gave a shrug, indicating that she understood Asuka's feelings very well.

"Why not?" Bonnie asked. "You could be my big brother's partner!" she exclaimed exuberantly.

"Huh?" Clemont and Asuka both blurted, seemingly in dread. In Asuka's case, though, she had a good feeling about where this may have been headed. If she were right, things would turn out great. If she were wrong, though, she was doomed.

"I can't sing," Clemont moaned again.

"And I _hate_ singing!" Asuka declared forcefully.

"C'mon, don't be such a downer," Ash told the two of them, focusing his gaze on Asuka. "You'll both do fine. Besides, we can't have a competition without at least two teams."

"Okay," Clemont eventually relented. "I'll do it." He then slumped forward. "Oh no," he moaned. "What have I gotten myself into?"

"Then there won't be a competition," Asuka declared forcefully.

Bonnie then scowled at her and said, "Fine. Then I guess it'll just be me and Clemont and Ash and Serena."

"Hey, you could have Asuka join some of the singers already on stage," Professor Sycamore volunteered, looking over at the singers already on the stage, two of them already being girls along with one boy. "That would make an even four for them so there could be a competition between the two teams."

"Did you not hear me just now?" Asuka almost screamed. "I HATE singing!"

"Yeah, but you look like you'd make a good idol if you dressed the part and/or did some cosplay," Serena teased.

Asuka turned to Serena and glared at her. "I am a battler, not a performer," she seethed.

Ash's eyes then went wide at the revelation. "Huh?" he murmured. "You're a battler? I thought you were a reporter for your school paper."

Asuka's eyes went wide with shock and concern as she suddenly realized that she had revealed something of herself. At this point, though, she felt that there was no use denying it. "Yes," she confirmed, nodding with resignation. "While I am doing a report for my school, I have also battled on more than a few occasions."

Ash then grinned. This was perfect. "Then I challenge you to a Pokémon Battle!" he declared loudly.

Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie's eyes went wide with shock. "What?" they blurted. Asuka's lips then twisted into a grin that mirrored Ash's own and Clemont could immediately see the resemblance between the two.

"I accept," Asuka declared in counterpoint to Ash, a little too eagerly for Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie's liking. "State the rules."

"This'll be a three-on-three battle, no time limit. The battle will end when all three of one Trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle. If I win, you'll have to sing karaoke with us, even if it's just you by yourself."

"And if I win, I don't have to sing _at all_ ," Asuka declared.

Ash nodded in agreement. However, it looked as if Asuka was not finished. She then looked over at Ash's friends and added an addendum to the challenge. "Ash, let's make things really interesting."

"Whadaya have in mind?"

"I want all participants in the supposed karaoke competition to take part in this challenge. I want you and all of your friends to battle me. Your friends may even use up to three of their Pokémon in support of you. Pokémon may even be given from one Trainer that has more than three to one who has less as long as each participant only has three Pokémon on his or her team. The only rule is that only one Pokémon for each Trainer may be out on the battlefield at a time."

"Okay," Ash answered waveringly. Asuka was putting herself at a significant disadvantage by doing this since she would be outnumbered four-to-one. He then looked back at Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie and asked, "How about you? Are you okay with this?"

"It's fine with me if it's okay with you," Serena answered.

"Same here," Clemont stated.

"Yippee, I get to be in a Pokémon Battle," Bonnie cried out in sheer excitement.

"And if we win, what will you do?" Ash asked his opponent.

"I will sing a duet with Serena, Clemont, Bonnie, or even you," Asuka almost grumbled in answer. "I will sing as much as you want. My heart will also be in it, snapping fingers, clapping, dancing, I'll do it all." After making her declaration, though, she gave a dark grin. It would not come to any of that. She was not going to lose this battle. Heck, she would not be surprised if she won by a clean sweep. The only real issue would be Ash's Greninja since Charizard was still back at Professor Oak's for Mega Evolution research, and she could deal with him easily enough. Heck, even if Ash had Charizard, she would have had a plan for that. Ash and the others had no idea what they were in for. "And if I win?" she asked with a confident smirk.

Ash did not give an answer. He had not thought about it. Just as he was about to open his mouth and say add something to the list, such as a free dinner or offer to pay for her stay at the hotel, she spoke again. "Ah well, the initial prize is good enough for me. Anyway, let's get this slaughter started!"

Professor Sycamore then stepped forward and proclaimed, "I will be the referee for this match. And it just so happens that the stage can double as a battlefield."

With that, he went over to the stage and it lights suddenly sprang to life and shined down onto the stage. Asuka then looked back at her Pokémon and grinned. With a single incline of her head, she called them over. Immediately, all six of her Pokémon friends joined her, including the Tyranitar that was dressed in an ill-fitting tuxedo in the corner. He must have been the bouncer, though Ash had never heard of a Pokémon being a bouncer at a party. Ash took one look at Asuka's team and noticed that it was fully evolved, and very powerful. He suddenly had a feeling that she was far stronger than she was letting on. His thoughts were all but confirmed when Asuka looked around and examined Ash's friends and did not seem to worry about the fact that all of her Pokémon were outside of their Poké Balls.

As for Ash's team, he was confident in his Pokémon's capabilities. He looked over at Serena and she gave him a warm and confident smile. She was ready to go. Looking over at Clemont and Bonnie, he could see that they, too, were ready.

As for Asuka, she went over to Chandelure and Starmie and told them quietly, "Okay you two, listen carefully." They came in close and she peered behind her at Ash and Serena. "I need you both to scan Ash and Serena. Each of you must focus on one of them. Starmie, I'd prefer for you to scan Serena since you're part Psychic-type. I need to know if you sense any abnormal mental changes in Serena at all during the battle, such as she gets more into the battle than she normally would. You and Chandelure both got a chance to scan her during her performance for Ash. As for you Chandelure, you need to focus on Ash. I know that my bond with Ash should tell me if something's going on with him, and I get the feeling that there is, but I'd like a second opinion. There's a chance I may call on you to battle, but I hope to not have to do so unless I'm actually in danger of losing. Got that?"

Both Pokémon nodded.

"Good," she said, nodding. Starmie and Chandelure then took a step back behind the battlefield and began their scans of Serena and Ash, respectively.

Ash and his team soon formed up on the other end of the stage, which was more than large enough to serve the purposes of being a battlefield. As soon as they were formed up, Professor Sycamore went over the rules one last time. "This is going to be a multi battle, no time limit. The battle will end when all of one team's Pokémon are unable to battle. Trainers on one side may exchange Pokémon so as to allow each Trainer to have three Pokémon. Let the battle begin!" The professor then raised his hand and brought it back down in a chopping motion.

"Pikachu, I choose you!" Ash declared.

Pikachu then ran out onto the stage, crying, "Pika!"

"Delphox, overture!" Serena cried. She then tossed a Poké Ball onto the battlefield and Delphox emerged from it, stepping out onto the battlefield, crying, "Delphox!"

"Luxray, it's your turn!" Clemont cried. When his Poké Ball opened, it revealed a quadruped Pokémon resembling a fully-grown lion with blue skin, black fur, and red and yellow eyes. "Luxray!" the Pokémon cried upon emerging from the Poké Ball.

"Dedenne, you're up!" Bonnie cried exuberantly, pointing out towards the battlefield. Dedenne then ran out onto the battlefield to join the other three Pokémon.

Asuka's eyes went wide with shock. There was no way they could be this stupid. They could clearly see her team and that it had a strong Rock-type in Tyranitar, as well as a Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon in Garchomp. They were practically handing her victory. Still, she had no problem accepting a gift when it was offered. After all, it was her birthday too. "Tyranitar, stand by for battle!" she called.

Ash's eyes went wide as he heard her declaration. It was the same statement, to the word, that Paul, a rival of his from Sinnoh, had used when sending out a Pokémon. He suddenly had a feeling that Asuka was a more active battler than she had let on. Tyranitar ran out onto the battlefield and immediately, a sandstorm started to brew. Ash and his companions' eyes went wide at the sight and they had to shield their eyes from the stray grains of sand. Asuka merely grinned as she took out a pair of goggles and put them on. Apparently, they were not accustomed to facing weather conditions. Next, they would learn the danger of entry hazards.

"Asuka, since you're the challenger and are outnumbered, you will be granted the first move if that is okay with everyone," Professor Sycamore declared.

"It's fine with us," Ash and the others answered. Asuka could only grin. They had no idea what they had just done.

Tyranitar then looked back at Asuka, wondering if it was time to battle. Her nod was all the direction he needed. With that, the battle began. Several silver glitters of energy instantly appeared around Tyranitar and grew larger as the others watched, not realizing that Tyranitar was making his move since Asuka had not given any orders. As such, the silver glitters grew in size until they became large, solid gray rocks. The rocks then imbedded themselves into the ground and burrowed underneath the ground until they were no longer visible. It was only after the rocks had imbedded themselves into the stage that Ash realized that Tyranitar had performed an attack

"Be careful, everyone, the battle's already begun. Asuka must be able to psychically communicate with her Pokémon," he warned. "We won't be able to hear her commands."

"Got it," the others replied in unison. That was when they began their attacks.

"Pikachu, use Electro Ball!"

"Delphox, use Fire Blast!"

"Luxray, use Thunder Fang!"

"Dedenne, use Nuzzle!"

Once the commands had been given, the Pokémon went to work unleashing their attacks. Pikachu immediately powered his Electro Ball and prepared to unleash it on Tyranitar while Delphox unleashed a blast of flame towards the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon in the form of a stick figure and Dedenne and Luxray charged towards the Pokémon, electricity crackling between Dedenne's cheeks, and Luxray's teeth. Asuka could only grin at the scene as Tyranitar knew exactly what to do.

The Rock/Dark-type Pokémon immediately used Stone Edge to cause a ring of stones to erupt from the stage and surround him, intercepting the Electro Ball, the Fire Blast, as well as Dedenne's Nuzzle and Luxray's Thunder Fang as the two Pokémon that were using physical attacks crashed into the wall of stones and were unable to pierce it. Ash's eyes went wide as he recognized the move as a version of Counter Shield, a technique that he had developed during his journey in the Sinnoh Region of Japan. How had Asuka learned of it and how could she use it even more skillfully than he had? Tyranitar then proceeded to form the rocks into a wall and unleash them at Delphox.

"Delphox, use Psychic to dodge them now!" Serena cried desperately, shocked at how quickly Tyranitar was going from defense to offense. However, the attack came too fast for Delphox to mount an effective defense and the stones collided with the Fire/Psychic-type Pokémon. The one Stone Edge was sufficient to knock Delphox out of the fight, the swirls in her eyes indicating that she was unable to battle.

"Delphox is unable to battle," Professor Sycamore declared.

"Delphox, return," Serena called, holding out her Poké Ball and returning the fainted Delphox to it. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to do more for you. You deserve a good long rest." She then gave a determined look out at the battlefield as the other Pokémon on the team unleashed another series of attacks against Tyranitar, the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon standing his ground without suffering much, if any, damage.

Serena then gripped another Poké Ball and tossed it out onto the battlefield, crying, "Sylveon, enter stage rear!"

The Poké Ball opened and out came Sylveon, who promptly took a hit from Stealth Rock as the gray stones rose from the ground and converged on her.

"Sylveon, use Moonblast!" Serena cried, grinning, knowing that Moonblast was super effective against Tyranitar but she also felt as if it was her best chance to take down one of Asuka's Pokémon. If nothing else, it would likely open Tyranitar up to other attacks.

Sylveon powered up the pink orb of energy and unleashed it on Tyranitar. The Moonblast collided with Tyranitar, hitting him before he raised a Stone Edge barrier over himself. An explosion resulted and the Pokémon seemed to be covered in smoke for a few seconds. However, as the cloud of smoke cleared, it was clear that the attack had inflicted next to no damage to Tyranitar at all, assuming it had even done anything in the first place. Serena and the others gasped upon seeing that.

"But how?" Clemont gasped. "Fairy-type moves are super effective against Dark-type Pokémon."

"This Asuka must be stronger than we thought," Bonnie said warily. She was beginning to wonder if it was such a good idea to volunteer to enter this battle, or slaughter as it could very well become. And it would most certainly be humiliating if all four of them were beaten by Asuka without inflicting any losses to her team. Looking at the others, the same thoughts seemed to be crossing their minds as well. She shook off the thought. It was still early in the fight.

Meanwhile, Asuka grinned at seeing her opponents suddenly second guessing their challenging of this girl. The Pokémon, however, were not so uncertain about their prospects. Pikachu took point in front of the rest, followed closely by Sylveon, then Luxray, and finally Dedenne. Asuka gave a smirk when she saw Pikachu and the others form up in front of her. Tyranitar had his fight in the bag since he knew Earthquake and would likely take out three of the Pokémon with one hit. All he needed to do was to have Pikachu commit to an attack and then attack him in response. And Ash did not disappoint.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash cried.

"Sylveon, use Baby Doll Eyes!" Serena commanded.

"Luxray, use Discharge!" Clemont cried, grimacing as he gave the order. Discharge would not only affect Tyranitar, but since it was a complete discharge of electricity from the body, it would also affect his teammates' Pokémon as well.

"Dedenne, use Nuzzle," Bonnie cried.

Asuka grinned. This was perfect. Despite Baby Doll Eyes' ability to reduce Tyranitar's attack power, Earthquake would still be able to do a great deal of damage to the team in front of her, and Pikachu would not be able to take down Tyranitar with one Thunderbolt. Even if Luxray used Thunderbolt or Discharge, something that would also hurt the rest of Luxray's team, it would not be sufficient to take down Tyranitar. She watched as Pikachu unleashed his Thunderbolt on the massive Rock/Dark-type Pokémon, electricity arcing across his body. This was followed by Luxray using Discharge, sending bolts of electricity in all directions. Meanwhile, Sylveon went to use Moonblast on Tyranitar and Dedenne charged towards the massive Rock/Dark-type Pokémon, its cheeks crackling with electricity as it went to use Nuzzle.

The ranged electric-type attacks collided with Tyranitar and he grimaced as he took the hits, but they did not appear to be more than minor annoyances. They were woefully insufficient to take down Tyranitar. After the Thunderbolt had collided with Tyranitar, the massive Rock/Dark-type Pokémon used Earthquake to deal with Pikachu, and the others, shaking ground and seismic waves inflicting obscene damage to Pikachu, taking him down with one hit. The seismic waves also washed over Dedenne, Luxray, and Sylveon, each of who fell to the floor, grunting as they sustained the full force of the attack. Of all of those Pokémon, only Sylveon was able to rise, albeit slowly and still breathing heavily.

"Pikachu, Luxray, and Dedenne are unable to battle," Professor Sycamore declared, raising his hand. Ash then rushed out onto the battlefield to bring Pikachu back.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried as he went to bring back his best friend. He looked down at Pikachu, he saw that Pikachu was still unconscious as the Pokémon went, "Pika, pika."

He picked up Pikachu and cradled him in his arms, saying, "You did great out there, buddy. You deserve a good rest."

He then retreated back to his side of the field and looked out at Asuka, who was smirking as it was now Tyranitar versus Sylveon, the Fairy-type Pokémon looking pretty ragged from the Earthquake as well.

As for Tyranitar, he grinned as he focused on Sylveon. Then, as he went to step forward and attack, the one thing that Asuka dreaded occurred. Electrical sparks arced across Tyranitar's body. The Pokémon was paralyzed. She pulled out Tyranitar's Poké Ball in order to recall him, but he shook his head in the negative, grunting that he wanted to stay out and battle. Against her better judgment, she allowed Tyranitar to remain out on the battlefield. He wanted to finish Sylveon before the others called in their next Pokémon.

Sylveon, hoping to take advantage of Tyranitar's paralysis, went to fire another Moonblast at the Pokémon. Since the paralysis slowed down Tyranitar's reactions, he was unable to erect a Stone Edge barrier over himself before taking the blast. The attack collided with him and inflicted moderate damage, but was not sufficient to stagger him. The Rock/Dark-type then unleashed the Stone Edge barrage right at Sylveon. The Fairy-type Pokémon took the full brunt of the barrage and grunted with each hit as she was unable to avoid the barrage. The already weakened Pokémon promptly fell to the assault. "Sylveon is unable to battle," the professor declared.

Both Ash and Serena looked gravely concerned now. Serena only had one Pokémon left while Clemont and Bonnie each still had two, they were likely very vulnerable to Tyranitar. However, Serena's one Pokémon had the type advantage over Tyranitar. She grinned and looked over at Ash and the others, telling them, "Let me take the lead on this one. I've got this."

"You sure?" Clemont asked in an uncertain tone.

Serena nodded. "Tyranitar's not beating Pangoro," she declared confidently.

"Alright then, go for it!" Ash proclaimed in support of Serena.

"Okay," Clemont and Bonnie said skeptically.

Asuka grinned as she looked at Serena. She could tell that something was different about Serena and she liked this Serena far more than the performer. This would be the last battle. She looked back at Starmie and Chandelure to let them know that they really needed to pay attention to their charges during this battle. Both Pokémon nodded, acknowledging the girl.

Serena then took out her last Poké Ball and cried, "Pangoro, join the fight!"

Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie turned and stared at Serena, a shocked look crossing their faces. They had never seen her like this before. It was as if they were looking at a completely different Serena. For Asuka, she felt as if she were seeing the real Serena for the first time. She eagerly anticipated this upcoming battle.

As for Clemont, he only had one real choice. "Chesnaught, go!" he cried.

His Poké Ball opened and revealed a mostly green and tan bipedal mammalian Pokémon with plant-like characteristics. He also had a domed armor-like shell similar to a chestnut, from which it got its name. Chesnaught endured the Stealth Rock like a pro since he was strong against Rock-type attacks. Asuka grimaced at the sight of Chesnaught. While she had the Pokémon necessary to defeat him, she did not want to call upon Chandelure this early in the match if she could avoid it.

Bonnie would not be left out of this battle. Taking a Poké Ball that Serena had given her, she cried, "Swampert, go!"

Immediately, her Poké Ball opened and revealed a bipedal Pokémon that usually stood on all fours with a cobalt blue body. Its hands had three fingers on them and two orange gills that protruded from round patches on their cheeks. Since Swampert was part Ground-type, it was immune to Tyranitar's sandstorm. However, it was not immune to Stealth Rock, which rose from the ground and immediately converged on the Pokémon. However, since Swampert was resistant to Rock-type attacks, Stealth Rock only inflicted minimal damage. It was Ash, however, that was growing quite concerned, for he had no Pokémon that could clear the Stealth Rock and he had two Pokémon that were incredibly vulnerable to the hazard, which limited his team's options.

Finally, it was Ash's turn to send out his Pokémon. "Goodra, I choose you!" the boy cried as he tossed his Poké Ball out onto the battlefield. Immediately, the Dragon-type Goodra appeared on the battlefield, giving a cry of anticipation for the battle.

Asuka smiled at the scene. Everything was set. It was time for her plan to truly take shape. "Tyranitar, return," she commanded, the first words she had spoken since the battle had begun.

Tyranitar reluctantly obeyed and retreated despite the fact that he felt as if he could have beaten all of the other Pokémon on the battlefield. He trusted Asuka's plan, for she had used this plan many times before. In addition, he was paralyzed and he did not want to be a liability to the team. After he had retuned to Asuka's side, Asuka nodded. Garchomp then took to the stage and prepared for battle.

"Go!" Asuka cried to Garchomp.

Garchomp nodded and quickly went to work. That was when the rest of the group launched their own assault on Garchomp.

"Chesnaught, use Wood Hammer!" Clemont cried.

"Goodra, use Ice Beam!" Ash cried.

"Pangoro, use Karate Chop!" Serena cried.

"Swampert, use Ice Beam!" Bonnie cried.

Asuka could scarcely believe her luck. They were doing her work for her. As if sensing her grin, Ash immediately called off Goodra, crying, "Wait, don't use Ice Beam. Use Dragon Pulse!" But it was too late.

The Pokémon unleashed their attacks on Garchomp and the Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon was ready for them. Pangoro lead the charge with Karate Chop. That was when Garchomp used Stone Edge and had the stones erupt from the ground, scoring a direct hit on Pangoro, sending the Pokémon staggering backwards.

"Pangoro!" Serena cried as she saw the Pokémon take the hit and stagger backwards. However, Pangoro quickly recovered his balance and focused on Garchomp once more, glaring at the Pokémon, obviously annoyed that he had taken such a hit. Serena could only give a confident grin. This would not be like the other battles.

Back to the fighting, Garchomp's Stone Edge soon formed a wall in front of her, catching the two Ice Beams as Chesnaught charged towards her. The beams struck the stone wall and encased it in a sheet of ice, prompting Garchomp to smile, for the Dragon/Ground-type then sent the wall of ice flying towards Chesnaught. The wall collided with the relatively slow Pokémon before he could react and use Wood Hammer on the wall of ice and sent it flying through the air. The frozen nature of the wall meant that it counted as an Ice-type attack and managed to send Chesnaught reeling backwards. Garchomp then followed up with a single Dragon Claw before Chesnaught could react, the Pokémon raking her claws across Chesnaught's face. That attack was enough to take down Chesnaught, putting an end to one of Clemont's surprisingly powerful Pokémon. "Chesnaught is unable to battle," Professor Sycamore declared. He was beginning to suspect that he was about to say this a lot more.

Clemont grimaced. He was now in the same boat as Serena, only having one Pokémon left for battle. Now the question was, what Pokémon would he send out? He considered his options and found that he only had two realistic options at this time: Diggersby and Heliolisk. Diggersby was not vulnerable to Garchomp, but it also did not have any super effective attacks against Garchomp, which Heliolisk did. In addition, Bonnie still needed a third Pokémon. As such, he tossed Diggersby's Poké Ball over to Bonnie and told her, "Use this if Swampert loses."

"Sure," Bonnie answered, nodding, her eyes wide with glee at knowing that she would not be out of the fight if she lost with Swampert, which was not all that unlikely.

"Well, we're not out of this yet," Clemont said, attempting to reassure Bonnie and the rest.

"Right," Bonnie stated in answer. "Swampert, use Ice Beam on Garchomp!" she cried.

Swampert obeyed Bonnie, unleashing a forking beam of icy energy on Garchomp, who had a quadruple type disadvantage against it. Garchomp used the same defense as before, using Stone Edge to form a wall of ice in front of herself as a shield. The beam of ice struck the wall of stones and a sheet of ice spread out from the point of impact. Once the ice had engulfed the entire stone wall, Garchomp sent it flying towards Goodra.

"Goodra, use Bide!" Ash commanded. It was a risk using Bide given that Garchomp was, herself, part Dragon-type and had already demonstrated that she knew Dragon-type attacks but he felt as if it was his best bet of getting around Garchomp's defenses since using Ice Beam was hazardous and he felt that Dragon Pulse would not get through a Stone Edge wall, either. Unfortunately, for him, Asuka was quite willing to play that game, too. Unfortunately, for Goodra, the frozen Stone Edge wall collided with Goodra and inflicted massive damage to the Dragon-type Pokémon before it could use Bide. Still, he was able to battle and when he hunkered down and began to glow red to store up energy from any attacks that would be directed against him. Asuka could only grin. Goodra had taken himself out of the fight and she decided to focus on her other opponents for the time being.

Meanwhile, Clemont had chosen his last Pokémon and was about to send it into the battle, knowing that its chances for losing were high, but hopefully, it would help the team take down Asuka's Garchomp. He knew that Heliolisk was still highly vulnerable to Earthquake but it did have one thing going for it: Dragon Pulse, along with the fact that Asuka would likely be hesitant to use an attack like Earthquake since it would also affect Goodra while he was still using Bide, which would be hazardous for Garchomp later on. As such, he took out Helolisk's Poké Ball and cried, "Heliolisk, it's all up to you!"

The Poké Ball opened and revealed a yellow bipedal lizard-like Pokémon. Clemont then commanded, "Heliolisk, use Dragon Pulse!"

Heliolisk complied and immediately unleashed a powerful blue ball of energy towards Garchomp. Garchomp, who had just dodged another Ice Beam from Swampert, jumped right into the path of the Dragon Pulse and took a direct hit. The attack sent Garchomp staggering backwards a few feet but she was still able to maintain her footing. She then glared at Heliolisk and Clemont knew that he had a choice to make and he had to make it quickly, but make it he did.

"Heliolisk, use Electric Terrain before Garchomp uses another Earthquake!" Clemont cried.

Heliolisk complied with the command and electricity crackled around its body. However, before it could send the charge to the ground, Garchomp used Earthquake once again. The ground shook and cracked as seismic waves were sent through the stage. The energy from the Earthquake washed over Swampert and managed to take it down, swirls appearing in its eyes as it fainted. Heliolisk also met the same fate as it fell to the Earthquake, swirls appearing in the Pokémon's eyes as it fell. As for Goodra, the Dragon-type braced himself and endured the attack, storing the energy from Earthquake but knowing that he could not take too many more hits like that. However, Bonnie was down to one Pokémon and Clemont was out of the fight. When Bonnie saw her Pokémon having fallen to the Earthquake, she grimaced and recalled her Pokémon. However, after recalling Swampert, she held its Poké Ball to her mouth and said, "You did great out there, Swampert. You deserve a good long rest."

She then took the Poké Ball that Clemont had given her and looked at it for a moment before gulping. This was it. This was her last chance to help Ash beat Asuka. "Diggersby, you're up!" she declared, tossing Diggersby's Poké Ball out onto the stage.

The Poké Ball opened and revealed a Pokémon that resembled a portly bipedal rabbit with two long ears, each of which had large forearms on them with three-fingered paws. The Pokémon was mostly gray but also had some brown coloration. As with all of the other new entries, when Diggersby emerged onto the battlefield, Stealth Rock activated and converged on the Pokémon, inflicting minimal damage due to his type resistance. Still, it would do little good for Bonnie, for Garchomp did not look to be tiring at all and that had been after taking a direct hit from a super effective Dragon Pulse, as well as having Goodra take his time storing energy for Bide.

"Diggersby, use Dig!" Bonnie commanded, hoping that Garchomp would hesitate to use Earthquake while Goodra was using Bide, and that the Earthquake would not take down Goodra should Garchomp use it.

Diggersby nodded and proceeded to use its forearms on the top of its ears to dig a hole and burrow underneath the ground.

That would be Diggersby's downfall, for that was a signal for Garchomp to use Earthquake and bring a quick end to that fight. The Dragon/Ground stomped on the ground and sent out rings of energy traveling along the ground, shaking it, the stage cracking in the process. The rings and cracking ground inflicted damage to any Pokémon that touched the rings. The energy washed over Goodra, and the underground Diggersby, which suffered by far the greatest damage of the two. Being underground meant that it was exposed to far more energy than the others and fainted, a beep on Clemont and Bonnie's Holo Caster scanner indicating that Diggersby was unable to battle. All the while, Ash's Goodra was finished storing energy and unleashed all of his pent up energy on Garchomp with a single white beam, but her Sand Veil ability allowed her to dodge the beam and sustain no damage, causing both Ash and Goodra to grimace. That was when the sandstorm caused by Tyranitar's Sand Stream ability finally vanished.

When the ground cleared, Bonnie was able to see part of the unconscious form of Diggersby and recalled the Pokémon to its Poké Ball. She could only grimace. She was out of the fight, too, leaving only Ash and Serena still able to battle against Asuka.

"And another one bites the dust," Asuka quipped. Ash must have heard that quip, for he scowled at the girl making fun of how Clemont and Bonnie, a young girl in her first battle was out of the fight. Still, that was an accurate description of what was happening in this battle. If things did not turn around soon, this would be one of the most one-sided massacres that he had ever experienced as a Trainer.

After Bonnie had recalled Diggersby, Asuka looked across the battlefield and sighed. "Perhaps we should call the battle right here," she suggested. "Two of your teammates are out of the battle and you have yet to take down or even noticeably weaken one of my Pokémon, and neither Tyranitar, nor Garchomp, are the strongest Pokémon on my team."

"I'm not giving up," Ash declared forcefully, glaring at Asuka for even making the suggestion.

"Me neither," Serena declared forcefully, nodding in agreement with Ash. Her declaration caused Asuka to smile.

"Very well," she shrugged with resignation, "let the battle continue."

"Battle?" Clemont sighed softly. "This is a slaughter."

"Don't worry big brother," Bonnie said, trying to cheer him up. "The battle isn't over yet. Ash and Serena could still make a comeback," she offered. "After all, Ash still has Goodra out there. If he takes down Garchomp, he'll easily be able to beat Tyranitar, and then it's anyone's battle."

Despite her attempts to cheer up Clemont, though, even she could tell that things looked grim. Asuka was not even trying and she was slaughtering their teams.

Back to the battle, Goodra and Pangoro were now alone in dealing with Garchomp. Still, they were far from finished.

"Goodra, use Dragon Pulse on Garchomp!"

"Pangoro, use Dark Pulse on Garchomp!" Serena commanded.

Pangoro then unleashed a Dark Pulse on Garchomp with Goodra firing a Dragon Pulse at the Ground/Dragon-type Pokémon. The pulses scored direct hits on the Mach Pokémon, but inflicted minimal damage. After all, Pangoro was still a performance Pokémon rather than a battle Pokémon and while Ash's Goodra was strong, it was nowhere close to Garchomp's level.

Asuka examined the scene but was not concerned about the recent turn of events. Indeed, she was actually surprised that it took this long for Ash and Serena to use this strategy. She knew that Garchomp had the perfect counter to Goodra as well. The Ground/Dragon-type Pokémon proceeded to stomp the ground and create a massive Earthquake. Pangoro also had trouble standing up against the Earthquake, falling to the ground, but did not suffer sufficient damage to knock him out and the Dragon-type Pokémon held firm. Ash grinned. It would not be so easy to take down Goodra now that he had grown and trained in the swamp.

"Goodra, use Ice Beam!" Ash commanded. "Try to freeze that Garchomp solid!"

"Pangoro, use Dark Pulse one more time!" Serena ordered as she pointed at Garchomp.

Goodra then proceeded to unleash an Ice Beam on Garchomp, scoring a glancing hit on the Pokémon's shoulder before she could raise a Protect barrier. The Ice Beam inflicted noticeable damage to Garchomp but was not enough to take her down. Soon the green Protect barrier formed over Garchomp, managing to intercept Pangoro's Dark Pulse before it could inflict more damage.

Garchomp, seeing that Goodra had taken significant damage from the Earthquakes, knew that it could only sustain one more Earthquake before going down. As such, Garchomp immediately stomped on the ground once more, sending seismic waves through the stage as Goodra fired off one more Ice Beam. The Ice Beam collided with Garchomp, scoring a direct hit on her, a sheet of ice forming over the Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon, eventually freezing her solid. However, before Garchomp was frozen, the Earthquake did its job and took down Goodra, the Pokémon falling to the ground and not moving, swirls appearing in his eyes indicating that he had fainted. Pangoro also took major damage, but surprisingly, he was still able to continue.

Asuka quickly took out Garchomp's Poké Ball and called, "Garchomp return." The Poké Ball drew the frozen Pokémon back into it and once the Pokémon had been returned, she looked at it and said, "Rest easy Garchomp. I'll defrost you as soon as this battle is over, if not sooner. You were awesome out there."

She then stared at Ash and told him, "End the battle now, Ash. You've only got one and a tenth Pokémon remaining for this battle, both of who will fall to any of my other Pokémon. You froze Garchomp and paralyzed Tyranitar, but your final Pokémon and what's left of Serena's Pangoro can't beat any of my four remaining Pokémon. Besides, I've already seen what I need."

"I'm not givin' up until it's over!" Ash declared, even though he knew that things looked bad. "And if you quit now, you'll have to sing a duet with Serena, dancing and all." He knew that last bit would keep the battle going. If he was going to lose this, he would do so with honor.

"Fine, then," Asuka answered, scowling. "Just don't say I didn't warn you."

"Greninja, I choose you!" Ash cried as he tossed Greninja's Poké Ball onto the battlefield, selecting his second Pokémon. The ball opened and immediately revealed Greninja. Immediately, the gray rocks of Stealth Rock rose from the ground, orbited Greninja for a second before converging on the Water/Dark-type Pokémon. Greninja gave a grunt of discomfort as he endured the hit.

Once Greninja appeared on the battlefield, Ash stepped forward and cried, "This it Greninja. It's do or die for us. We've got her team on the ropes so let's finish this. It's time for our bond evolution!"

The moment he said that, water began to emanate from Greninja and surround him. He then began to change, but only in color. His skin began to take the tone of Ash's clothing and hat. Leaf looked at this and grinned. She had heard legends of this bond evolution, she had called it synchro-evolution, but whatever its official name was, it was like a pseudo Mega Evolution only without the need for a Key Stone and Mega Stone. Greninja was clearly stronger in this form. She then grinned. She was eager to see just how her Pokémon team would handle, for lack of a better term, Ash-Greninja.

Asuka could only grin. She had this in the bag. She then looked back at Venusaur and said, "It's time Venusaur, finish this fight!"

Venusaur then stepped forward onto the battlefield and looked over at Greninja, who focused his gaze on Venusaur. It was clear that Greninja was strong and versatile, but Venusaur had faced off against opponents like that before. Even with his boost, Ash Greninja would be in trouble.

As for Ash and Serena, they stared intently at Asuka, studying Venusaur. They both spotted the necklace around the Grass/Poison-type Pokémon's neck and grimaced. It was clear that Venusaur was capable of Mega Evolution. However, Ash had Ash-Greninja, who had beaten Mega Evolutions before, particularly Grass-type Megas.

Ash looked over at Serena and told her, "Have Pangoro cover me. I'm havin' Greninja get in close to he can attack Venusaur at point blank range. That'll keep Venusaur from being able to launch an accurate counterattack. And since Greninja's bond evolved, he should be strong enough to take down Venusaur."

"Right," Serena answered, nodding and giving a confident smile.

Ash then looked over at Greninja and commanded, "Greninja, use Double Team and attack from the best angle," Ash commanded.

As soon as the order was given, a dozen illusory copies of Greninja appeared as he charged towards Venusaur.

Asuka looked at Venusaur and inclined her head towards his opponents. Like the rest of her team, Venusaur was alert and not cocky about his power, despite the fact that he was the strongest battler on Asuka's team, even without Mega Evolution coming into play.

"Don't underestimate them; end this quickly."

Venusaur nodded as he turned to face down the weaker of the Pokémon first: Pangoro, who was also the ranged fighter on the squad. Knowing that Pangoro could be a problem of he closed the distance between the two of them, he decided to finish him off first. However, Ash and Serena were the first to unleash their attacks.

"Greninja, use Ice Beam!" Ash cried.

"Pangoro, cover Greninja with Dark Pulse!" Serena cried. She did not want to him to focus on Greninja, who was going to engage in close combat against the Grass/Poison-type Pokémon. She also had a bad feeling that Venusaur may have had a counter for Ash-Greninja.

Venusaur, however, was not concerned at all. Greninja was making a fatal mistake trying to attack him at point blank range. He saw Greninja coming and had watched the earlier parts of the battle. He knew that Pangoro was a performance Pokémon, that he would not be too much of a threat. He could easily take a Dark Pulse while he gave Ash-Greninja, and Ash, the surprise of their lives. He quickly fired off a cloud of Sleep Powder, which covered the entirety of Ash-Greninja, as well as the illusory copies, the Pokémon falling asleep as Venusaur took Pangoro's Dark Pulse to the head. The pulse exploded against Venusaur's skin and created a cloud of smoke, but when the smoke cleared, Venusaur was simply standing there, seemingly completely undamaged.

Ash and Serena's eyes went wide at the scene. This was no ordinary Pokémon. This had to be a Champion-level Pokémon. There was no way that a normal Venusaur could take a Dark Pulse to the head like that and suffer minimal to no damage, while managing to fire off an attack like Sleep Powder. Venusaur then quickly ended the battle against Pangoro by firing a single green Energy Ball at the panda-like Pokémon, knocking out the already tired Pokémon with one hit. The ball collided with the massive panda-like Pokémon and knocked it back to the ground, unconscious. As soon as the Pokémon fell, swirls appeared in its eyes, prompting Professor Sycamore to declare, "Pangoro is unable to battle." Serena was out of the battle.

Next came Ash-Greninja. While Venusaur was tempted to finish the battle with an Energy Ball or two, a part of him wanted to actually test his strength against Ash-Greninja. He then looked back at Leaf and asked her a question, likely asking for permission to wait until Ash-Greninja had awakened before fighting him.

"Sure, go right ahead," Leaf answered casually.

Venusaur then waited for Ash-Greninja to wake up so the battle could continue. Ash looked on and scowled. He did not like being condescended like this, but a part of him was also grateful that Venusaur was not just ending the fight right here and now. He then focused on Greninja, waiting for the Pokémon to wake up, while fighting the fatigue his Pokémon was feeling, himself.

Eventually, Greninja woke up and zeroed in on Venusaur. "Greninja, attack using Ice Beam now!" Ash cried.

Greninja obeyed and fired off an Ice Beam at Venusaur, scoring a direct hit just as Venusaur fired off an Energy Ball on the Water/Dark-type frog-like Pokémon. Venusaur got the better part of the exchange, for the Ice Beam merely knocked him back a few feet and inflicted moderate damage, icicles beginning to form on his body, but the Pokémon was able to shake off the ice without a problem and continue fighting. Leaf still scowled, though, for her Pokédex scanner indicated that Venusaur had taken noticeable damage from that attack. She did not want him taking many more hits like that.

As for Ash-Greninja, though, when the Ninja Pokémon took the Energy Ball to its chest, it gave a cry of pain and was sent flying through the air, the Energy Ball inflicting massive damage to the Pokémon. Upon taking the hit, Ash, too, felt Greninja's pain and almost keeled over in shock at how powerful the Energy Ball was, despite Greninja having bond evolved and Venusaur not having Mega Evolved. More startling, at least to Serena, Clemont, Bonnie, and even Pikachu, though, was that when Ash nearly keeled over in pain, a look of discomfort crossed Leaf's face as well, almost as if she shared in Ash's pain. Still, she must not have felt the full brunt of the attack that Ash did due to his bond with Greninja.

Eventually, Greninja stood and focused back on Venusaur, with Ash recovering as well. "Okay Greninja, we can't go at them power on power," Ash stated. "Use Double Team and attack from afar," he ordered. "That way we'll have a better shot at avoiding that Energy Ball. Venusaur's big and not that evasive, so we should be able to win this by keeping out of his range."

Greninja nodded and backed off, performing a Double Team, forming no less than a dozen illusory copies. He then did his best to stay still and control his breathing in order to keep the sound of his footfalls and breaths from alerting Venusaur to his position, for while Venusaur's Energy Ball was a very direct attack, he was concerned that Venusaur may have known some volley attacks like Razor Leaf or Leaf Storm.

As for Venusaur, he carefully scanned the area, listening intently for any cues as to which Greninja was the real one. However, given Greninja's ninja-like nature, it was difficult to get an accurate bead on him. He thought he managed to find Greninja and fired an Energy Ball at the Greninja, only for it to disperse, being nothing more than a Double Team doppelganger. Greninja responded by firing off another Ice Beam right at Venusaur, scoring a hit directly on Venusaur's head. Venusaur gave a grunt of discomfort as he was suffering noticeable damage from the attack, beads of ice beginning to form on his body with a sheet of ice forming in front of him. Still, the second Ice Beam was not sufficient to take down Venusaur and Greninja had given away his position. Venusaur fired an Energy Ball at Greninja, only for it to strike another doppelganger as Greninja quickly sped away from the onrushing emerald ball of energy.

Ash grinned at the sight as Greninja was fired another Ice Beam at Venusaur, the large Grass/Poison-type Pokémon going evasive and only suffering an indirect hit, but still taking noticeable damage. The end of the battle was nearing and he could tell that it would soon be over, and with Garchomp frozen and Tyranitar paralyzed, he would be able to sweep Asuka's team and win the battle. However, Venusaur was not out of the fight by a long shot.

Venusaur, realizing that Ash-Greninja was too evasive and quiet for him to get an accurate bead on, decided to use Sleep Powder as a cover to help aid in his evasion, as well as force Greninja to be on the defensive. As such, he unleashed a massive cloud of blue Sleep Powder all around the battlefield, the cloud covering the entire area, obscuring Venusaur from Greninja's vision.

"Greninja, use Ice Beam to freeze the cloud and find Venusaur!" Ash ordered.

Greninja did as he was commanded, firing off a series of Ice Beams to try to clear the cloud, as well as keep it from affecting him. However, in doing so, he gave away his position to Venusaur, who had moved into an area that as completely obscured by the cloud. This would not only conceal him, but also his attack until it was too late. Just as Ash-Greninja fired off another Ice Beam to freeze more of the cloud, Venusaur fired off an Energy Ball right at Greninja. The frog-like Pokémon noticed the emerald green ball of energy erupting from the Sleep Powder cloud too late to evade and he took a direct hit, the hit sending him flying through the air.

"Greninja!" Ash cried as he saw his Pokémon flying though the air. The pain from the attack also indicated that this would be the end of the battle, for Ash had to steady himself to keep himself from falling to the ground.

Greninja crashed into the ground, reverting back to his normal form. There he lay, swirls appearing in his eyes, showing that he had fainted.

"Greninja is unable to battle," Professor Sycamore declared. That prompted the professor to raise his flags and declare, "The battle is over." He then pointed the red flag at Asuka and declared, "Asuka is the winner!"

Ash's eyes went wide with shock at the scene of Greninja's defeat. Ash-Greninja had fallen to a Venusaur, a Venusaur that had not even Mega Evolved. The battle was over. He, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie had been swept twelve to nothing by someone who was supposed to be nothing more than a school reporter. Not only that, but her team had taken down Ash-Greninja in the process after taking numerous super effective hits. No, there was no way Asuka was a mere school reporter. She had to have participated in a League tournament somewhere, and won.

Serena looked on in horror at the sight of Ash recalling Greninja.

"Oh Ash, I'm so sorry," she stammered, covering her mouth with her hands. "It's all my fault!"

"No Serena," Ash answered, shaking her head. "I made too many mistakes here. I underestimated Asuka and it cost us."

Back over at Asuka, the girl merely gave a kind smile as she looked over at Ash and his friends for a moment before focusing back on her Pokémon friends. She had been a little surprised that they had taken each of her three teammates to the brink, but in the end, it did not matter all that much. She had won and she would not have to sing, which was the real victory here.

"Oh yeah, you rock Venusaur!" Asuka cried, running over to her starter Pokémon and hugging him. She then turned to Ash and his teammates, declaring, "As the victor, I claim my prize. This means that I am not required sing karaoke with you at all. And I won't. I am leaving now."

She proceeded to turn around and depart the stage. As she did so, though, she stopped and then turned back to Ash and narrowed her gaze on him. "Ash, you lost for a variety of correctible reasons. First and foremost, you rarely told your Pokémon to dodge. They were sitting ducks the whole time and easy to take down. Had your Pokémon gone evasive, they would have been harder for my Pokémon to zero in on and take them down. Second, you did not take into account the use of ranged attacks over close combat attacks, even when close combat attacks may have been strong against one's opponent, or the speed at which the ranged attacks travel. What's the point of having strong attacks if you can't hit your opponent? Third, you were also caught completely off guard by Stealth Rock, with two of your Pokémon being, in essence, neutered by it. Stealth Rock takes out, at base, one eighth of a Pokémon's strength. Had you not had to face Stealth Rock, you could have used Talonflame or Noivern, both of who have ranged attacks and some support moves that could have helped you. And forget using Charizard if you have to deal with Stealth Rock. He'll lose half of his health before the battle even begins. And you can be sure that every worthwhile participant in the Battle Maison Tournament will have Stealth Rock along with other entry hazards such as Toxic Spikes and Spikes at their disposal. If they set those up on you, you're screwed, or should I say, your Pokémon are screwed." She neared him before continuing, "These are all correctible problems. You have the potential team members necessary to negate many of these problems. Use Stealth Rock to turn the tables on your opponent. Get a Rapid Spinner or Defogger to clear the opposing entry hazards. Teach your Pokémon friends powerful ranged attacks. Play the ranged game, and also take type advantages into account. If you do this, you'll do well in the tournament. You might even win," she offered in a hopeful tone.

"I know," Ash retorted, scowling, annoyed at being lectured to by a schoolgirl. As he scowled at her, though, something came to his mind. Even though she had a good strategy, her Pokémon were far more powerful than they should have been for a normal schoolgirl. They had very effective battle strategies that one did not get simply by reading books. She knew what to expect from her opponents. She had read his plans perfectly and only two of her Pokémon had taken enough damage to be forced to withdraw. Heck, she did not even use her Starmie, Chandelure, or Jolteon. He then saw Asuka turn to depart the scene. He then walked forward, going after her for a bit. Something was not right about her. She was no ordinary schoolgirl. "Who are you?" Ash demanded.

Asuka stopped for a second and then turned around to face Ash. "I'm Asuka," she answered, staring at him, her eyes meeting his. "I told you that before our interview."

"That's not what I mean," Ash clarified. "Who _are_ you? You're no ordinary schoolgirl. No schoolgirl battles like that. You clearly have experience beating high-level opponents. I've battled Champions and none of them battled like you."

"Maybe that's why they've always lost when battling me," Asuka answered with a knowing smile. "You'll be facing League Champions in the Battle Maison Tournament. Prepare accordingly, because they won't give you a chance to end the battle if it becomes too one-sided like I did. Nor will they care too much about having a real battle. If they see an opponent that's fallen asleep, they'll go for the win."

Ash gritted his teeth but he had to admit that Asuka was right. None of his opponents would follow a slaughter rule. Still, he believed that Asuka was stronger than she was letting on. He also could not help but suspect that he knew her from somewhere. Either way, he had to admit that his battle against her was a slaughter. And to make matters worse, she had not just defeated him. She had beaten, no, humiliated, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie in the process. And to make matters worse, the reason it was so one-sided was due to the fact that it seemed as if he had forgotten basic battle tactics against her. She was right, he had not once ordered any of his Pokémon to dodge her attacks, something he had always done before.

Ash sighed and then turned away and went over to Serena. "Serena, I'm sorry for this. I'm sorry that I let ourselves get embarrassed like this."

Serena looked up at Ash and gave him a kind smile. "No, Ash," she said, shaking her head. " _I'm_ sorry for this. I should have been a stronger partner for you." While she was able to maintain her smile, Ash could tell that it was just to keep up appearances and that she had been humiliated in that battle.

"What're you talkin' about?" Ash asked, trying to cheer her up. "Your Pangoro did just as much damage to Tyranitar as my Pokémon did. And you're not even a Trainer, you're a Performer."

"Yeah, for all the good it did," Serena muttered.

"Don't worry about it," Ash said, looking down at her and smiling, trying to comfort her. "I'm the one who should be down in the dumps about this."

"But I don't want you to be," Serena told him.

"No need to worry, Serena," Ash assured her. "I'll survive. And besides, better to be embarrassed now than to be embarrassed at the Tournament. I'll consider what Asuka told me and make the necessary adjustments so that what happened here won't happen later."

Serena then nodded and smiled. "Okay."

Ash then returned her smile and they looked into each other's eyes for a moment before turning to Clemont and Bonnie, who were not moping but were still staring at Asuka as she departed. Once she had left, they turned to Ash and Clemont said, "Well, that was a learning experience."

"That it was," Ash said, nodding in agreement.

"Well, there's a Pokémon Center in the hotel, so I suggest you take your Pokémon there for healing before turning in."

"What about you?" Ash asked.

"We're heading back to the Prism Tower so we'll take our Pokémon to the North Pokémon center. Besides, it'll allow the hotel's Pokémon Center to focus on your own Pokémon."

Ash could see the logic in what he was saying. Besides, Clemont and Bonnie lived in the city, so they did not need to stay at a hotel. As such, the two of them made their way out of the Grand Versailles Ballroom while Ash and Serena went over to a table and got a directory that would lead them to the hotel's Pokémon Center.

Meanwhile, over at the hotel's Pokémon Center, Asuka was having Venusaur, Garchomp, and Tyranitar examined by the Nurse Joy stationed there. A Full Restore and a good nap would be all that the Pokémon needed in order to heal. And the Full Restores would only be needed for Garchomp and Tyranitar. While Nurse Joy was examining the Pokémon that had fought in the battle in the ballroom, Asuka went over to confer with Starmie and Chandelure. After all, the only reason she had accepted Ash's challenge and had insisted on allowing Serena and the others to join in was because her Pokémon had felt something strange about Serena, and she, herself, had felt something strange about Ash.

"So, did you sense any changes in Serena during the battle?" she asked.

Starmie nodded and telepathically transferred everything it had learned during the battle to Asuka. As soon as she received the information, her eyes went wide with shock. "Woah," was her only statement, she was still in shock. "So it seems as if Serena _is_ a Chosen Hero after all. It's just that she's being blocked."

 _More than that_ , Starmie telepathically communicated to her. _I got the impression that someone, or something, has been altering her mind for quite a while, accentuating certain attributes and suppressing others. I wouldn't be surprised if they were suppressing her dream of battle, for when she was really starting to support Ash, I could tell that her true dream was coming to the surface. I don't know who or what gave her her Performer's dream, but it is not her own_.

"Okay, so we know that the information about her on the datapad is correct," she stated. "So what about Ash?" she then asked, turning to Chandelure.

 _You would know even better than us_ ," Chandelure telepathically communicated to her.

"I just want confirmation," she told them.

Chandelure then nodded. _I also sensed something strange affecting Ash, though it doesn't have anything to do with battle_. Asuka could only grin.

"It's Serena," she concluded. "He has feelings for her, but they are being accentuated by an outside force."

 _I'm not sure about that_ , Chandelure communicated, shaking its head. _He most certainly has feelings for her. The only thing different is that they may possibly be becoming romantic, rather than platonic like his feelings for his other female traveling companions_.

Asuka then nodded in acknowledgment. She could not help but notice that Ash seemed to be a means to an end for whatever outside force was affecting them. She was almost certain that it had an effect on her battle against them. She would have to stay at the hotel to wait to see what where everything headed. She then turned to her Pokémon friends and told them, "We're staying here for the night. Chandelure, I want you to keep an eye on Ash and Serena. Something has taken an interest in them and we know that it's affecting both Serena's dream and her destiny. I also have a feeling that Ash is caught in the middle of this. As for the rest of you, when Tee-Tar, Venusaur, and Garchomp get out of the ER, they and Jolteon will be with me. Starmie, you keep your senses open for any strange energy sensations. If you sense anything, alert me and the others and track it down as best you can."

Starmie nodded in acknowledgment. The moment that was finished, a chime sounded, indicating that Tyranitar, Garchomp, and Venusaur were fully healed. Nurse Joy came out, followed by a large pink and white bipedal balloon-like Pokémon called Wigglytuff. She held a tray that contained three Poké Balls.

"Your Pokémon are fully healthy," she told Asuka.

Asuka took the Poké Balls and then opened them, letting out all three Pokémon. As they were released, they gave cries of cheer, indicating that they were fully healed. Once the party was ready, the group headed up to Asuka's hotel room.

Meanwhile, standing on the hotel's roof, two shadowy Pokémon figures stood in the shadows. The looked much like dark gray upside down squids. Their eyes glowed as they telepathically looked down into the hotel and saw Ash and Serena headed towards the Pokémon Center, each one smiling at the other and enjoying each other's company, despite being curbstomped by Asuka mere minutes earlier. They breathed a sigh of relief at the scene. They were worried when battling fire in Serena's heart had lit up and come to the surface during that battle. Now, she was the performer that they had always wanted her to be and the fire inside of her was suppressed once more. In addition, Ash was now questioning things about his own skill since the slaughter. That would be helpful if they could make it that he was the only one in a position to oppose them and their masters. If that happened, then they would have a much easier time accomplishing their mission.

As they let their gaze wander through the hotel, they saw Asuka heading out of the Pokémon Center, followed by her Pokémon friends. They made a fleeting attempt to scan her but they sensed the blocks she erected in her mind and knew that attempting to get past them would take more effort than it was worth. She was strong, in mind, body, and spirit. Most non-telepathic humans were pretty easy to scan, even if they had strong minds. This girl was different. If her battle against Ash were any indication, she and her Pokémon team would be trouble. And to make matters even worse, she had only used half of her team. They did not know what her Venusaur was truly capable of or if she could even Mega Evolve it. They decided to transmit that information to their comrade with Xerosic so that he could give them further instructions. There was a new threat to their plans. Once that was finished, they focused on Ash and Serena once more. The rest of the team could deal with this Asuka. As long as Serena was not able to become a hero and Ash was being consumed by his burgeoning feelings for her, they would not be a problem.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Ash and Serena headed into the Pokémon Center and found that it was generally deserted, save for the Nurse Joy and Wigglytuff behind the counter. They had suspected as much since most visitors had no intentions of battling. They were the rarities. Heck, he had not had any intentions to battle at all, only battling in order to get Asuka to participate in a karaoke session to even out the teams when Clemont insisted that he could not join. Now, this battle was the reason why they had to come here to have their Pokémon examined.

Ash and Serena approached the front desk and the Nurse Joy perked up upon seeing them. "Hello," she exclaimed. "Welcome to the Hotel Richissime Pokémon Center. I'm surprised to have as this many guests."

"Well, I must say that I'm surprised to find a Pokémon Center inside the hotel," Serena answered.

"We're only here temporarily," Nurse Joy explained. "With the Battle Maison Tournament occurring in a week in Kiloude City, many participants are staying in the hotel before leaving for the tournament. They are also practicing and undergoing Super Training exercises. Still, you're only the second and third customers I've seen today, though you're the second and third customers in the last half hour."

"Someone else was here?" Ash inquired.

Nurse Joy nodded. "A girl had come in here wanting me to look after three of her Pokémon. She had a powerful team with her. I'm almost certain she is going to be one of the participants in the Battle Maison Tournament."

Serena then looked over at Ash, who had been listening to Nurse Joy's statement intently. "It seems as if Asuka was here," she told him.

"Well, she didn't give me her name," Nurse Joy said.

"Well, she said that she was a reporter for her school paper," Serena stated.

"I highly doubt that," Nurse Joy said with a chuckle. "I haven't ever seen school newspaper reporters with a Tyranitar, Garchomp, and Jolteon along with a Venusaur, Chandelure and Starmie. The Pokémon I examined were also at a very high level. I would guess that her other three were also at a similar level."

Ash nodded and looked over at Serena. "No way she's a reporter," he said knowingly.

Serena nodded in agreement.

"Well, is there anything you need from me?" Nurse Joy asked in a cheerful tone.

"Yes, could you take a look at our Pokémon?" Ash asked, placing his Poké Balls on the front desk in front of Nurse Joy. Pikachu also jumped off of his shoulder in order to join them.

Serena then placed her Poké Ball next to Ash's. "They've all been in a very tough battle," she added.

"No doubt against that girl," Nurse Joy surmised. "I saw her talking to the Pokémon that she did not send to be checked."

Ash had figured as much. When not interviewing either him or Serena, she had been seen sitting alone, talking with her Pokémon at times. He did not know what she was talking to them about, but the more he thought about it, the more suspicious he was becoming. He looked over at Serena and noticed that she was thinking along the same lines, though he did not know if it was because she was truly suspicious of her, or simply jealous of her and looking for any reason to be mistrustful of her and/or hoping that she was, indeed, less than savory.

"Did this girl seem to do anything suspicious when she came?" Serena asked.

"Not at all," Nurse Joy answered. "She seemed nice enough, if a little direct." She then paused before putting the Poké Balls on a tray and saying, "Well, I'd better take them back so we can examine them." She then handed the tray to Wigglytuff, who took them into the back room. "I'll call you once we've completed the examination and healed them."

"Thanks," Ash said, searching for a table to sit at and pass the time until their Pokémon were ready.

When he found a table, he went over to it, followed by Serena. There, they sat, not talking much but enjoying each other's company. Serena would often glance over at Ash and smile while he simply waited. Ash, meanwhile, did not appear at first, to be displaying many feelings outwardly, but when Serena was not looking, he would periodically glancing over at her and return her smile. He did not know why he was being so coy with her right now. She was doing nothing to hide how she felt about him. For a moment, he wondered if it was because she was in idol. In Japan, many idols were symbols of purity where even the possibility having boyfriends could bring a career to a quick and ignominious end even if nothing untoward had actually happened. He did not know how it was in Kalos but he thought that it was better to be safe than sorry. The last thing he wanted was to be the reason her dreams did not come to fruition.

After a half hour, the familiar chime that indicated that the Pokémon from the back were fully healed sounded and Nurse Joy and Wigglytuff came out from the back room with the tray of Poké Balls that Ash and Serena had left with her. Pikachu was sitting on top of the tray, smiling as he usually did.

"Ash, Serena, your Pokémon are fully restored," she told her usually cheerful tone.

Ash and Serena rose as one and went over to the counter and collected their Poké Balls. Pikachu promptly jumped onto Ash's shoulders, quipping, "Pikapi, pikachu."

"Ya feelin' better buddy?" Ash asked, looking back at his best friend.

"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air.

"Thanks for looking after our Pokémon," Serena told the nurse as she put the Poké Balls into her backpack.

"You're welcome," Nurse Joy answered.

Once all of the Pokémon had been collected, the duo then departed the Pokémon Center. As they left the Pokémon Center, they paused by the doorway for a second.

"So, where to now, Ash?" Serena asked.

"Well, I was gonna head up to my room. Why?"

"Do you have your card key?"

Ash nodded. "Mm hmm. I got it during the celebration." He then looked back at Pikachu and smiled. "And Pikachu and the others even got their own special room designed just for Pokémon."

"That's, unusual," Serena commented tentatively. "Are you sure it's not a Team Rocket scam?"

"Well, the man who gave me the key had brown hair and was wearing a tuxedo."

"Okay," Serena answered, her trepidation not diminishing.

"So, where're ya headin' next?" Ash asked, turning to Serena.

"I'm staying here for the night," she answered. "A Kalos Queen and performer idol does require her beauty sleep. But before then, I was hoping I could take a walk with you."

"Are ya sure that'll be okay with your agent?"

"I don't really have an agent per se," Serena explained. "I can have a boyfriend as long as nothing really scandalous happens."

"Whadaya mean by scandalous?" Ash asked, wondering why Serena would mention something like that.

"Well, um, you know, if things get too serious, or something like that, it could be bad," Serena stammered, trying to answer coherently, flustered by Ash's question. She had thought that he already knew how she felt about him. And if he had not before today, those kisses that she gave him and her performances should have been more than enough to inform him.

"Is that what would be a problem for your dreams?" Ash asked.

Serena nodded.

"Then we just won't do anything scandalous!" Ash declared.

A part of Serena was relieved with that answer, but another part was disappointed. She really liked Ash, in more ways than one, but she really wanted to take their relationship to the next level. For the first time since she could remember, he seemed to be reciprocating her feelings towards him. She did not want to make him uncomfortable and/or risk driving him away. Still, she wanted to do more than just handholding and staring at him affectionately, especially since Asuka had come onto the scene. His mention of other traveling companions from the past had also elicited pangs of jealousy. She then turned towards Ash and smiled as she gazed affectionately at him, Ash being busy talking with Pikachu and making sure that everything was okay.

"Well, I should get goin' and get everything unpacked," he told her. He was about to turn and head towards the elevator when he looked back at her and asked, "Do you have any performances comin' up? It's been a really long time since I've seen you perform, other than the birthday performance, of course, and seein' you on television or computer screens just isn't the same."

"Oh, not really," Serena answered, blushing. "My schedule's clear for the time being." She then put her index finger to her mouth and gave as cute a smile as possible, in keeping with the image of an idol. "Of course I would be glad to make a house call, or rather, a room call, if you wish," she added cutely.

"I've got no problem with that," Ash answered, smiling at Serena and doing his best to hide his blush. She really was cute when she smiled like that. He almost shivered as she directed her smile towards him, something that made him a little uncomfortable.

Pikachu noticed Ash's shiver, as well as his blush, and smiled to himself knowingly. Perhaps he would finally ask one of his female traveling companions out on a date or something. All of them had been beautiful in Pikachu's eyes, but he could tell that that there was something different about how Ash viewed Serena. Even Misty had not elicited the same reaction he had when being with Serena, especially when Serena would cosplay or dress in cute clothing.

"Well, give me a call if you want a personal performance," Serena offered in a sensuous tone.

"I will," Ash answered, blushing. Pikachu could barely keep himself from giggling at the scene.

Ash then made his way over to the elevator. Surprisingly, he was followed by Serena, who he had not expected to follow at this time. He smiled at her as he called the elevator to him. He waited for several seconds until a chime sounded and the doors slid open to allow him entry. He then stepped onto the elevator, followed by Serena, who simply smiled sweetly at him. Ash then boarded the elevator, with Serena following him. After they were both onboard, the doors slid closed.

Onboard the elevator, Ash proceeded to push the button marking the fifth floor. He felt the vibration as the elevator began its ascent. He waited and smiled as he heard Serena softly humming a happy tune. He looked over at her and smiled, prompting her to return the smile and give a wink. After a few seconds, the vibration slowed and the chime sounded, indicating that the elevator had reached its destination. The doors then slid open, granting the duo access to the fifth floor.

As Ash stepped out into the corridor, a strange sensation came over him and he almost felt a familiar presence. He paused for a moment, prompting Pikachu to glance at him questioningly, but he did not say anything and his smile soon returned as he made his way towards Room 501. He was followed by Serena, who smiled the whole time. Eventually, he turned to Serena and asked, "Is everything okay?"

Serena nodded, her smile still plastered on her face. "My room is Five-Oh-Two," she answered. It looks like we're right across the hall from one another."

"Wow, that's great," Ash exclaimed exuberantly. "Well, I've gotta get unpacked and hopefully set up the suite for my Pokémon, too. Pikachu'll be stayin' with me, if he wants to, though."

"Pika!" the electric mouse exclaimed.

Ash smiled at the mouse and he then turned back to Serena, who gave him another sensuous smile. "Well, I'll be seein' you," she said in a seductive tone as she turned to go into her room.

As she disappeared into her room, Ash shook his head and smiled. "Wow," he murmured. Pikachu gave a knowing smile but said nothing. Ash then turned, slid the card key into its slot, turning the light green, allowing him entrance into his room. He then proceeded to grip the knob, pull the door open, and enter the room in order to unpack his gear. As he did so, a part of him hoped that Serena would come to his room for a visit or offer to take him for a tour of the city at night. Still, he felt the need to get himself and his Pokémon situated so he quickly went to work doing so, still smiling at the thought of Serena and her performance as he did so. As he was thinking about Serena, though, his mind soon drifted once more to Asuka, who he had the feeling was in her room, practicing martial arts. He would not have been shocked to know that that was exactly what she had been doing.

Meanwhile, over in Vaniville Town, a boy of about fourteen years of age with medium length black hair, gray eyes, wearing a blue jacket and pants found himself in the fight of his life as four Team Flare grunts attacked him. He had already deployed his Greninja, who was doing its best to hold off the grunts. So far, it was holding out fine against a horde of Zubats, led by some Golbats that were also being supported by some Scraggys. However, the boy that the Team Flare grunts were accosting was no ordinary Pokémon Trainer. He was the current Kalos League Champion, a boy named Calem. He had been a skilled Trainer ever since he was little and was known for winning the Junior Kalos Tournament at the age of eight.

He also happened to be the next-door neighbor of Serena and had once encouraged her to at least look into becoming a Pokémon Trainer. Despite her initial enthusiasm, she had not followed through with becoming a Trainer. While he never said it openly, or even privately, he had been a little disappointed when Serena had decided to become a Performer and an idol, believing her to be destined for far greater things than being, as he put it, "an object to be worshipped." As for his situation right now, he was holding his own against the four grunts that were engaging him and so far, he had only deployed Greninja to battle the grunts. He felt as if he would not need to use anyone else.

"Give it up kid, you're outnumbered!" one of the grunts called. "Even you can't hold out against the forces that are arrayed against you.

Calem merely responded by giving Greninja his command "Greninja, use Surf to take down these Flare Pokémon!"

Greninja complied by leaping right in front of his master and firing off a large, expanding stream of water that eventually grew to become a tsunami that crashed down upon the Team Flare Pokémon, along with the grunts that trained them. The tidal wave crashed upon them, landing on one of the grunts directly, crushing him, and continued towards the others, washing them down the street. By the time the wave dissipated, the surviving grunts, along with their Pokémon, were waterlogged and unable to continue the battle. However, the overall battle was far from finished, for Calem turned and found six more grunts arrayed against him. The grunts grinned as they zeroed their gazes in on Calem. While they knew that he was the Champion, they figured that their superior numbers would tell the tale. Each of the grunts gripped two Poké Balls and hurled them into the air, the balls opening to reveal two Crobat."

"Surrender now, Champion. You're vastly outnumbered," they bellowed.

"A Champion never surrenders," Calem declared, grinning. He knew that he and his team was more than capable of dealing with these Team Flare grunts. Still, he felt that Greninja could use some support and he gripped two Poké Balls.

"Raichu, Tyrantrum, come on out! We need you!" Calem called out.

He then tossed the two Poké Balls into the air and the balls then opened, letting out an orange striped rodent-like Pokémon with a long, thin tail that had a lightning bolt on the end of it and a Pokémon that resembled a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Raichu and Tyrantrum landed and gave off cries of introduction. The Team Flare grunts grunted as the reinforcements came out to assist Greninja. They still outnumbered Calem's Pokémon, but they felt as if the battle had just evened out significantly. Their Pokémon were also quite concerned about the recent turn of events and they backed away from Calem's three Pokémon as they formed a line in front of Calem. The Team Flare grunts were not amused and they roared their displeasure.

"Attack him now you fools!" the grunts cried at the top of their lungs. "He's just one boy! You outnumber his Pokémon four-to-one! Now attack!"

The Crobats looked back at their Trainers and then back at Calem and the three Pokémon formed up in front of him. "Use Venoshock!" the grunts commanded.

"Raichu, use Thunderbolt, Greninja, use Ice Beam, and Tyrantrum, use Stone Edge!" Calem commanded.

The Pokémon nodded and began their attacks. Tyrantrum roared and raised a Stone Edge from the ground to intercept the Venoshock attacks, which splashed against the rocks, not managing to strike the Pokémon. While Tyrantrum had used Stone Edge to protect its comrades, Raichu launched a series of Thunderbolts on the furthest of the Crobats, while Greninja targeted the closest of the Crobats and unleashed its Ice Beam. The Thunderbolts struck the Crobats and were more than sufficient to take down each of the Pokémon. As for Greninja's Ice Beam, Greninja swept the beam across the front ranks of the Team Flare Pokémon, striking each of them and freezing them solid, the Pokémon falling from the sky and striking the ground, miraculously not shattering.

The Team Flare grunts looked on in utter disbelief at how easily their Pokémon had been taken care of. Their disbelief soon turned to rage as they seethed prepared to call out more Pokémon, but they were frozen solid when Greninja fired its Ice Beam on them. The beam washed over them and froze them in a block of ice, their expressions of rage and even disbelief frozen on their faces.

Calem grinned at the scene. "Great job you all," he congratulated. His Pokémon nodded and gave cries of acknowledgment. "You deserve a good rest," he said, readying his Poké Balls.

"I wouldn't call back my Pokémon so quickly if I were you," he soon heard a female voice call from behind.

He soon turned around and saw four women in Team Flare uniforms with high tech visors over their eyes. Each one had a different hair color with a different hairstyle. He saw that the Team Flare member with the red hair was the one who had spoken. "And who are you?" Calem demanded.

"I'm Aliana," the woman with orange hair declared.

"I'm Bryony," the Flare with green hair stated.

"I'm Celosia," the Flare with purple hair answered.

"And I'm Mable," the Flare with blue hair proclaimed.

"What do you want with me?" Calem asked.

"We need you out of the way," Aliana answered. "As the Kalos League Champion, you're the most powerful Trainer in the region. As such, we have an offer for you. You have most certainly showed your power, now use it for Team Flare."

"And why would I do that?" Calem asked.

"Because you want to survive," Bryony answered. "And you also want your Pokémon to survive."

"You have seen the way things are going," Celosia began. "Earth is at war with the Galactic Federation. Oh, it has some allies and has formed its so-called 'Federation in Exile' but you know that it will only be a matter of time before the Federation invades Earth and we start tallying up millions of casualties. Even worse, this world, which is already divided between two super nations in United Earth and the Pokémon World will lose even more of its beauty due to all the fighting."

Calem could scarcely believe what he was hearing. "You want a beautiful world? You seem to indicate that those who are not with Team Flare are going to die!"

"You're no fool," Mable told him. "You know that the war will come to Earth. Join us and survive what must be done to stop this once and for all."

"I don't trust you," Calem answered. He then paused and focused on each of the Team Flare scientists. "Tell me, what is your true endgame?"

"We already told you," Aliana stated. "We want to make a beautiful world."

"And what will the cost of that 'beauty' be?" Calem asked.

"Those that are not Team Flare," Aliana answered.

"Then I refuse your offer."

"And you have ended your life," the four Team Flare scientists answered in unison.

Calem smirked. "That remains to be seen," he stated as he let out his three remaining Pokémon: Aegislash, a golden metallic Pokémon that was currently curled up into a shield with a sheathed sword behind it pointed downward, Houndoom, and Talonflame.

The Team Flare scientists were taken aback at the Pokémon deployed against them. Several of them had tried to raise an Aegislash so that they could take over opponents and end fights before they began but had been unsuccessful. They were also worried about his Houndoom since they knew Houndoom was a Mega Evolution capable Pokémon, and that ring on Calem's left wrist indicated that he was able to Mega Evolve Pokémon. Still, they were not too concerned. They had some powerful Pokémon at their disposal as well, as well as a secret asset.

"Everyone, go!" the four Team Flare scientists cried as they tossed their Poké Balls into the air, two apiece. The balls then opened and revealed their Pokémon force. For Aliana, Mightyena, a gray and black wolf-like Pokémon, and Druddigon, a dragon-like Pokémon with a red head a blue body with red spike-like scales on its arms and tail emerged, giving cries as they arrived onto the battlefield. Bryony, meanwhile, sent out a Liepard and a Bisharp, a humanoid metallic Pokémon with white metallic hands that resembled gloves with retractable blades on them. Meanwhile, Celosia sent out a Manectric and a Drapion. And finally, Mable sent out a Houndoom and a Weavile, a bipedal weasel-like Pokémon with a dark gray body and a red crown of what looked to be feathers and smaller feathers on its ears and tail.

Calem was not concerned as he told his team, "Okay everyone, let's not give them a chance to attack. Everyone go! Use your most powerful single target attacks against them!" He wanted to make sure that Tyrantrum did not use Earthquake and inflict damage to the rest of his team in the process.

"Everyone go!" the Team Flare scientists cried towards their Pokémon, pointing at Calem's team. "Take down his Pokémon!"

Team Flare's Pokémon obeyed and the two teams quickly rushed at each other and they collided as they began to battle. Calem's Greninja targeted Mable's Houndoom and took it down with a single Hydro Pump as Houndoom had tried to counter with Flamethrower. The stream of flame had been easily overpowered by the blast of water and the Pokémon suffered a direct hit, first becoming waterlogged before fainting due to the damage inflicted by the super effective attack. Aegislash soon made his presence known by focusing on Manectric, appearing behind the Electric-type and using Shadow Sneak as the Electric-type went to target Greninja with Thunderbolt. The Pokémon managed to get off its Thunderbolt, the bolt of lightning striking Greninja squarely in the chest but the difference in power between the two Pokémon was great enough that a single Thunderbolt would not be that effective against Greninja and the part Water-type Pokémon easily endured the hit. Celosia's Manectric did not fare so well, despite being type neutral compared to Aegislash. The Shadow Sneak was more than sufficient to take down the Electric-type Pokémon with a single hit. The part Ghost-type Aegislash unfurling itself to reveal that its blade was its body and that its left arm had a shield. In its Blade Forme, its attack power increased dramatically, which was instrumental in helping it take down Manectric.

Drapion hoped to avenge Manectric by going after Aegislash but was quickly intercepted by Raichu and Tyrantrum, who used Stone Edge and Thunderbolt on the Poison/Dark-type Pokémon, taking it down before it could reach its target slash at it with Cross Poison, which would have been useless anyway, due to Aegislash's part Steel-typing. The scorpion-like Pokémon took both hits and fell to the floor, swirls appearing in its eyes, indicating that it had fainted. Celosia grimaced at the scene of her two Pokémon lying unconscious on the ground. She was already out of the battle.

Her cohorts were not doing much better. Mable's Weavile had attempted to use Ice Beam to freeze Aegislash while it was still in Blade Forme, only to be fried by Calem's Houndoom's Flamethrower. The part Ice-type Pokémon fell to the Flamethrower and Mable could only back away in shock and fear. She, too, was now out of the fight. That left only four Pokémon for Team Flare to face down the six Pokémon of Calem, none of whom had taken significant damage. Still, there was a chance to deal with Calem directly right now.

"Okay, forget the previous plan!" Aliana snapped. "Liepard, Bisharp, hold off Calem's Team! Mightyena, Druddigon, you deal with Calem directly! Ignore his Pokémon unless they get in your way!"

Their Pokémon looked back at them in shock. While they did not have any moral objections to the order, they felt as if the plan had little chance of success. There was no way that two Pokémon could hold out against six Pokémon of a Champion. Still, if they dealt with Calem quickly enough, the battle may end before they were all taken out. As such, the Pokémon carried out their orders.

Liepard and Bisharp proceeded to charge towards Calem's Pokémon, who were forming a line in front of him, allowing Druddigon and Mightyena to focus on dealing with him, directly. However, of Aliana's two Pokémon, only Druddigon had any ranged attacks. Aliana grinned as Bryony's two Pokémon made their suicidal charge towards Calem's team. Mightyena also joined in the charge to try and help them hold out while disguising Druddigon's true mission.

As expected, the three decoy Pokémon did not last long. The combined attacks from Calem's team were more than sufficient to take down all three Pokémon without difficulty. However, as they were dealing with the 'threat' of the three Team Flare Pokémon charging towards them, they ignored Druddigon, figuring that it was not powerful enough to be a threat to them. They realized too late that Druddigon's target was not them, but Calem, himself. Fortunately, though, as Druddigon was about to unleash its Draco Meteor, a Dragon Pulse and an Ice Beam from an unknown source struck Druddigon in the chest and took it down, the Ice Beam forming a sheet of ice over its chest. The Druddigon fell from the sky but before it struck the ground, a blue energy field enveloped it and it landed softly. Still, it was unable to battle and the Team Flare scientists were without Pokémon.

The Team Flare scientists seethed at the unexpected help that Calem had received, not that he really needed the help, though, for their plan for killing him was a long shot considering how easily their other Pokémon had been dealt with. Calem looked behind him and found three of his friends coming up to him, two boys and one girl. He recognized them from his time before he became a Champion. The girl had brown hair, green eyes, and wore a pink short-sleeved shirt and blue short shorts. One of the boys was obese with black hair, brown eyes, and wearing a black t-shirt with a Vanillite on it and orange shorts. He was named Tierno. The other boy was named Trevor. He was short and relatively thin with orange hair and gray eyes. He had not seen them in quite some time, though, only speaking to them on the Holo Caster on occasion. Next to the trio were three Pokémon. Next to Trevor was a Charizard. Tierno had a Blastoise next to him. Next to Shauna stood a Venusaur.

When they arrived, the girl, Shauna, rushed over to him and asked, "Are you alright Calem?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," the boy answered. "Thanks for the help."

"Not that you needed it," Tierno replied, examining the scene and seeing that the other Pokémon of Team Flare had already been beaten. "So, what's goin' on?"

"Team Flare wants me dead," Calem answered in no uncertain terms.

"What?" Shauna blurted. "Team Flare's back?"

"It makes sense if they're trying to make a comeback," Trevor noted. "They would first want to get rid of anyone who was a threat to them. The question is why would they make a comeback now? Isn't a little soon since their last defeat?"

The group then heard the laughter of Aliana in front of them. They focused on her and Calem commanded his team, "Keep them subdued."

The Pokémon nodded and neared the Team Flare scientists. The scientists knew better than to risk rebelling against his team. Still, Aliana did not stop laughing.

"Okay, what's so funny?" Tierno asked, approaching the woman.

"You asked why we were making a comeback so soon," she answered. "The answer should be obvious."

"Well, why don't you enlighten us," Shauna retorted, drawing a broadsword with a dark blue cloth wrapped around her arm that was, in actuality, a Pokémon identified as Honedge. Unlike other members of its species, though this Honedge did not drain Shauna of her life, for it had befriended her during her travels to become a Pokémon Performer.

The Team Flare scientists simply laughed some more. "Funny you should say that," Mable began.

"Huh?" the quartet asked in unison.

Their questions were answered when Shauna stepped behind Calem, drew Honedge, revealing its blade, and thrust it through Calem's back, straight through his heart. Calem's eyes went wide with shock as the sword pierced his flesh and emerged out the front, stained red, though he did not see himself bleeding. The damage was done, though and he fell to his knees, before falling to the ground, gasping for breath for a second before ceasing all movement. Shauna then withdrew her Honedge and with a single fluid motion beheaded Tierno before he could even comprehend what was going on. Trevor was a little faster on the uptake and managed to dodge Shauna's initial swing.

"What are you doing?" Trevor cried to Shauna. They had been friends for so long, he could not understand why she had just murdered Calem and Tierno. "We're your friends!"

"Don't waste your breath," Bryony quipped. "She can't hear you."

Trevor looked past Shauna and at the green-haired Team Flare scientist that had spoken. Shauna then charged towards him once more and he tried to move but was unable to do so, a blue energy field constricting his movements. Shauna then reached him and thrust her Honedge through his skull right between his eyes. Trevor's eyes went wide with shock at the fact that Shauna was attacking him, but mercifully, his death was painless. Soon, blue fields of energy surrounded the Poké Balls of all of the fallen children and they returned the stunned and frozen Pokémon to their Poké Balls.

The Team Flare scientists then looked to their rear and saw a Malamars floating towards them. They grinned at the appearance of the Pokémon.

"Good work," Aliana told the Malamar.

The Pokémon bowed in return before turning its gaze on Shauna. The blank expression in Shauna's eyes then vanished and she looked around as if waking from a dream, only it had not been a dream at all. The nightmare had been real and she recoiled with shock and disgust at seeing the dead bodies of her friends.

"Oh God no!" she cried, tears rolling down her cheeks. She then went over to Calem and examined him, seeing his chest wound and putting her fingers to his neck to feel for a pulse, praying that he was somehow still alive. "Calem!" she cried. "Don't be dead," she pleaded. Please don't be dead!"

Despite her prayers, though, no blood throbbed through his veins. He was dead. She then heard the Flare scientists laughing. She looked up at them and scowled. "Who did this?" she demanded.

"You did," Celosia answered sadistically. "You murdered your friends with your own sword."

"No!" she cried in horror, unable to comprehend the possibility that she could do something so heinous. "That's not true! That's impossible!"

"You were asleep for a minute," Mable interrupted, smirking. "Our Malamar took control of your body and used you to kill your friends, and our enemies. Let us show you."

She then turned to the Malamar and nodded. The Malamar then turned to Shauna and used Psychic to show her the slaughter of her friends by her own hand.

"Nooooo!" Shauna cried in absolute despair. She then broke down and sobbed over the loss of her friends by her own hand. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Those were her last words, though, as the Malamar used Psychic to grab her head and twist her neck, snapping it, the sickening crack of bones echoing throughout the town as she died. The Malamar then let her fall to the ground, her head twisted one hundred and eighty degrees, her look of despair etched onto her face. The scientists laughed as she fell, as did the Malamar.

"Well, that was easier than expected," Mable quipped.

Aliana ignored the comment and looked over at the Malamar. "Dig four holes. Make sure that they're buried deep enough to not be discovered here for a long time."

"Mala," the Malamar answered. The Pokémon then went to work digging the holes that would bury Calem, Shauna, Trevor, and Tierno.

Aliana then looked over at the Malamar and told it, "Once you're finished, report back to the boss in Lumiose City. Your brother comrades will also likely need your help making certain that the others are kept in check until it is too late."

The Malamar nodded as it used Psychic to dig the holes to bury the children. As the Malamar was working, the scientists looked down at the Pokémon and then went over to the fallen children and took off their Mega Rings.

"Make sure to take their Pokémon as well," Aliana told the others. "We need Pokémon to power the Ultimate Weapon, the more Mega Evolution capable Pokémon we have, the better."

The others nodded as they went to work gathering the Mega Rings and Pokémon. Once they gathered everything they needed, Aliana signaled Team Flare for extraction. Their mission here had been accomplished. All that remained now was to take down the official Champion of the Kalos League and the Elite Four and all of the major threats would be dealt with.

Meanwhile, over at the Pokémon League, Diantha sat in an opulent room with a massive television screen on the wall. Sitting at her side were three members of the Kalos Elite Four. To her right was a Drasna, a woman with long black hair, wearing a brown dress with a dragon motif. She was also a Dragon Master and trained some of the strongest Dragon-type Pokémon in the world. To Diantha's right was Siebold, a tall man with short light blond hair, blue eyes, and wearing a white suit. His specialty was Water-type Pokémon. To Drasna's right was Wikstrom, a man dressed in plate armor with dull brown hair. His type specialty was Steel-type Pokémon. The group was missing only one member of the Elite Four: Malva. They did not know of her continued affiliation with Team Flare and thought that she was simply late. They had waited fifteen minutes past the scheduled time for the meeting's start before they decided to start without her. Besides, if she was, indeed, still a member of Team Flare, it would be best that she not know their plans.

"Well then, let's get this meeting started," Diantha eventually stated. "I know that we are down one member, but I have a feeling that time is of the essence. As you have probably heard, Blaziken Mask was lost while investigating Lysandre Labs earlier today."

"I feel badly for that poor man, but I wonder why that would cause you to want us to meet."

"Because I think that Team Flare is not as beaten as we thought," Diantha answered.

"What makes you say that?"

"Lysandre was not accounted for in the aftermath of the last battle," came Diantha's answer.

"Do you have any idea where Team Flare may be stationed?" Wikstrom asked.

"Not yet," Diantha answered. "But I suggest we start at Geosenge Town. That was their last known secret hideout. If nothing else it may give us a few leads."

"That sounds like a start," Siebold stated. "I also have some contacts that once worked with Lysandre. One of them also happens to have a Mega Pokémon, so we can call up some extra firepower, especially if Malva is still affiliated with Team Flare."

"Okay, do it," Diantha told him.

Siebold nodded.

Diantha then looked around the room and was about to start a different line of thought when they heard the sound of a helicopter approaching the building. The Elite Four members in the room gave knowing smiles.

"It appears as if Malva has finally decided to show up," Wikstrom stated in a plain tone.

Diantha was not so certain. She gripped one of her Poké Balls and opened it. A blue blob of energy emerged from the Poké Ball and when it formed, it formed into Gardevoir.

"Gardevoir, use Psychic to scan the League Headquarters and its surroundings. I want to make sure everything's okay."

Gardevoir nodded and began its scan. As she did so, the sound of the helicopter got louder. Drasna looked out a window and thought that she could see a shadow on the ground, indicating that the helicopter was hovering. She then saw several people fleeing the grounds and she wondered why they were running. She never conceived of her answer, for the moment the question came to mind, all she knew was fire, a searing, burning, pain, and blackness as the window was blown by a massive explosion, causing the rest of the occupants to attempt to find cover before they met Drasna's fate.

Outside the building, the helicopter hovered close to the meeting place of the Elite Four and Diantha. It was an old Earth style attack helicopter that resembled an MI-24 Hind. Once the pilot and gunner had confirmed that all targets were present inside the building, the helicopter opened fire with its entire arsenal. Energy blasts from its main gun and rockets from the rocket pods mounted on its small wings erupted from the weapons ports and lashed out at the building. The rockets exploded against the sides and inside the building, blowing in the walls and windows, creating massive fires and blast clouds inside the building. Walls collapsed and flames erupted from the holes. Debris was thrown into the building and anyone standing near a window was instantly skewered by shrapnel and stone.

Even those huddled behind cover sometimes took a hit as well, as Siebold found out the hard way as a large chunk of rock was hurled towards him, hitting the sofa he hid behind before crushing him. As for Wikstrom, his armor was of little use as bullets and energy pulses tore through it, annihilating the Elite Four member. Diantha's Gardevoir had attempted to fight back, only to be skewered by bullets, energy pulses, and missiles before she could mount a proper defense. That left only Diantha still living. And without Gardevoir, she had not quick means of exit. As she could do now was huddle behind the strongest cover she could find, a thick, stone counter and hope that the helicopters did not detect her survival.

Outside the building, the helicopter continued its assault. Explosion after explosion rocked the building as it endured the abuse hurled from the attack helicopter. At first, it was the walls that fell, then the support beams and columns. It was not long before the entire building collapsed in on itself, the foundations eroding due to the withering fire from the helicopter. After the initial collapse, the helicopter continued to pour fire into the destroyed building until the crew was certain that there were no survivors.

Eventually, the firing mercifully stopped. The helicopter took a final scan of the building's ruins and its surroundings, wanting to be very thorough in ensuring that the Elite Four and Diantha were dead. Once the scanners confirmed that every living thing inside the building's ruins was dead, the helicopter turned and promptly flew away from the scene, wasting no more time at the Kalos League Headquarters. The pilot then made his report to Team Flare's leadership. With Diantha and the Elite Four, save for Malva, who was already in Team Flare, dead, along with Calem and his friends, there was no one left who could offer any real resistance to Team Flare, or so they thought.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Back in his hotel room, Ash was unpacking his belongings and getting himself situated. His hotel room was a luxurious suite with a King sized bed along with a full-sized bed not too far away. He had been shocked when he discovered that they were surprisingly not too plush for his liking. It was clear that this suite was designed for a family, rather than a single person, though. That was no problem for him, though, since Pikachu had decided to stay in the room with him.

Lying on a counter were his potions and Poké Balls. He had a couple changes of clothing sprawled out on the bed, along with a couple sets of pajamas. Standing next to him was Pikachu, who looked over at Ash's belongings not really knowing what to think. He had not expected Ash to bring so much stuff to the hotel.

"Pika pika, pikachu?" the Pokémon asked Ash, pointing to all of the clothes sprawled out on the bed, as well as all of the potions and Poké Balls.

Ash did not know what Pikachu was asking, so he answered, "I don't know what you're asking, but if it's about all this stuff, it's because of the tournament that's comin' up next week."

"Pikachu chu pikaka?" came Pikachu's next question. He was wondering about what Ash's plans with Serena were, assuming he had any. Pikachu was not completely oblivious to romance anymore. He also shuddered as he thought about Dawn's Buneary, who had a noticeable crush on him, just as Serena had a crush on Ash. He then smiled and gave a little chuckle.

Ash was completely stumped as to what Pikachu had asked and why he was now chuckling. He did not give an answer, to which Pikachu merely shrugged. The mouse-like Pokémon then went over to a small stand that had a bed on it designed for smaller Pokémon. He then sat on it and waited for Ash to finish unpacking and put everything away.

As Ash was finishing his unpacking, he thought about his Pokémon in the Pokémon suite next door. He had helped them get situated and made certain that everything was to their liking since he had Pokémon of various types, needs, and desires. Pikachu, however, being small and Ash's best friend, had decided to stay with him in his room. Ash had not minded at all. In fact, he preferred it this way and would have allowed all of his Pokémon to stay with him had there been room for them.

His thoughts then shifted towards Serena, something that surprised him. There was no denying that she, Clemont, and Bonnie had put a lot of work into preparing this party. Still, he could tell that she had added her own touch to it, and not just because of the performance before the cake had come out. This had been specially designed to appeal to him and what she knew of him, which was that he liked to eat and could eat a lot without getting fat, something that some of the other children in Pallet Town were very envious of. The truth was, though, that the reason he remained healthy was because he always walked everywhere and led an active lifestyle.

Thinking back to Serena, he could not deny that she had put on a tremendous performance. Everyone had liked it but he felt as if it was directed solely at him. There was no question at all about how she felt about him. He had the strong feeling that if asked, she would marry him tonight if allowed to. Now the question was how he felt about her. She was nice, just as most of his other traveling companions had been. She was also pretty, which all of his other traveling companions had been. So what was different about Serena? Why was she so important to him? Truth be told, he was relatively indifferent to her chosen career path. He did not dislike her becoming and Pokémon Performer and later an idol, but it was still strange that she had a special place in his heart. She was not a battler, which he was. Her chosen goal had not included battling at all. Add to the fact that all of his previous traveling companions had either been battlers, or had a goal that involved battling. So what was different about Serena? Why was he so enamored with her? What made her so different from companions like May or Dawn, each of who became top Coordinators, which were much like Pokémon Performers only the competitions, Contests and Super Contests, had battles?

Pikachu noticed Ash's staring at the ceiling in thought and went over to him.

"Pikapi? Pikachu?" he asked, siding up next to Ash.

Ash looked down at the Pokémon and smiled. "Don't worry buddy. I'm just thinkin'."

"Pika-chu?" Pikachu asked, something Ash could easily translate.

"Well, about Serena," he answered bashfully, scratching the back of his neck. "I don't know why I'm thinkin' so much about her recently. Truth be told, she's the reason I came back to Kalos in the first place. I could have gone on to other regions or tried the Indigo League in Kanto again. I had a lot of choices, but in the end, I chose to come back here."

Pikachu gave a knowing smile. "Ka-pika, Pikapi," Pikachu told him.

"I wonder if I'm in love with her," Ash eventually said, just as bashfully as before. "I've never really thought about love before. The only crush I've ever really had was on that Giselle girl early in our journey, and her personality soon crushed that." Both he and Pikachu chuckled at his witty pun. "Anyway, when I saw Serena after gettin' off the plane, my heart jumped. I've never had that type of reaction to someone before. And then during the tour, I felt the same way. She wanted to hold hands and I felt so happy as we walked. I simply enjoyed being around her. And then, of course, there was the performance at the birthday party." He gave another chuckle. "I've heard of people fallin' in love in similar ways. I wonder if that's what I'm feeling for Serena."

"Pika pikachupi pikaka," Pikachu said, patting Ash on the shoulder, smiling.

Ash returned Pikachu's smile. "I thought as much." He then continued to think about Serena. "You know, I don't know why I feel this way about her," he continued. "I mean, I've had many other pretty girl traveling companions. Heck, some of them, Misty in particular, were primarily battlers. Serena's goal had no battling whatsoever and as for the goal in a vacuum, I was not really all that interested in it and only attended for her sake. Heck, I'm also completely indifferent towards idols, but I've bought all of Serena's CDs and want to attend her next performance. In all honesty, if her next performance conflicts with the Battle Maison Tournament, I'll skip the tournament and go to the performance, if it's alright with you, that is," he added quickly.

"Pi-ka," Pikachu answered, nodding.

"Thanks buddy," Ash replied. "Well, back to Serena, I must say that when I came back here, romance was the last thing on my mind. But when I saw her again, everything changed." He sighed as he went back to thinking about the recent events, particularly his meeting with Serena. Everything had changed. In less than a day, his feelings for Serena had matured from a close friendship that may have been something more, to definitely more than friends. All he knew was that if she wanted to do more than just tour the town or talk with him, he would gladly do it if it was with her.

He sighed once more as he drifted back into thought about Serena when he heard a knock at the door. He looked up and heard the knock again. He then got up to answer the door to see who it was. When he reached the door, he opened it, revealing that the one at the door was none other than Serena, still dressed in her black dress, dragging a luggage cart behind her. He could see three suitcases on the cart, likely containing her wardrobe along with some items for her performances and possibly for her Pokémon as well.

"Hi Ash, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" she asked.

"Uh, no, not at all," Ash responded, surprised at her sudden appearance. "Is everything okay? Did you forget anything?"

Serena shook her head. "I'm fine. It's just that my room had a bed bug infestation and they're in the process of fumigating it."

"How'd that happen?" Ash asked, surprised that the hotel would give someone a room with bed bugs.

"Who knows," Serena shrugged with a coy smile. Ash began to suspect that Serena might have had Delphox use Psychic to make it seem as if there had been an infestation, probably so that she would have to stay in another room, which he strongly suspected to be his. His suppositions were soon confirmed as Serena asked, "So, is it okay if I stay here for the night? The hotel doesn't have any other available rooms and the Pokémon suite is not suited for human use."

Ash's heart practically jumped for joy and he did not really know why. "Sure," he answered, trying not to sound too exuberant. He did not want to scare her off. He stepped aside to grant her entry. She then entered the room, dragging the luggage cart behind her. "Sorry for the mess. I'm still unpacking."

"Will you have enough room for my stuff, too?" Serena asked. "If not, I could keep some of my stuff in my bags."

"I've got plenty of room," Ash answered. "This suite was designed for a family, rather than just one or two people so make yourself at home."

"Thanks," Serena said, her eyes getting brighter and her smile widening at his acceptance of her arrival. She then got to work unpacking her own gear.

Serena unpacked her clothing and items and laid them across the full sized bed. Pikachu jumped off of the bed to accommodate her and her large wardrobe. Ash did not spy on her but he could only smile as she made herself at home. Amorous feelings were welling up inside of him once more as he gazed at her. Periodically, she looked back at him and smiled, winking at him, which flustered him and caused him to blush and even laugh. He sighed and wondered why Serena was having this effect on her when his other female traveling companions did not. Objectively speaking, most, if not all, of them were quite attractive, yet only Serena was having this effect on him. A part of him was concerned, remembering how Brock constantly flirted with women and even how Bonnie was always proposing to women on behalf of Clemont, even though such actions always embarrassed Clemont. He did not want to be too forward with Serena, even though he was certain that she felt the same way as he did, if not even stronger.

As Serena continued to unpack her clothing and uniforms for her Pokémon Showcase performances and idol performances, Ash simply continued to watch her and smile. He also noticed that she had several uniforms that had covers over them. She hung her dresses in the closet next to the one that Ash was intending to use for his own clothing. Eventually, he decided to finish unpacking and get everything put away so he and Serena could get on with enjoying the evening.

Once everything was unpacked and put away, the two looked at each other and smiled. "So, Serena, what are you doing here?" Ash asked, attempting to break the ice.

"I already told you," Serena answered coyly. "My room is being fumigated of bed bugs."

"Why would the hotel give you a room that had beg bugs in the first place?" Ash asked, strongly suspecting that she had merely made it seem like the room had bed bugs so she would have a legitimate excuse to visit him.

"They likely didn't know," Serena shrugged. "Is my coming here a problem?" she then asked, her concern evident in her voice.

"Not at all," Ash answered. "I just don't want you to get in trouble with your agent if your coming here is discovered and is a problem."

"I won't," Serena assured him, smiling. "That's what the excuse is for."

"So it _was_ merely an excuse," Ash mock accused, laughing all the while.

Serena blushed. "Don't worry, I'm reimbursing the hotel for the 'bed bug' removal."

Her admission did not trouble Ash at all. He merely chuckled. "So, whatdaya want to do while you're here?"

"I don't know," Serena answered. "Maybe just look out over the city outside, watch a movie, or something."

"But aren't you worried about someone seeing us together if we go out?" Ash asked.

Serena shook her head. "It'll be fine. It's not like we're doing anything untoward, yet," she added mischievously. "So, how's gazing out over the city sound? Then we can watch a movie or even take a tour of the city's nightlife."

"Sounds good to me," Ash answered, looking into Serena's eyes. She smiled in response and the two simply stared at each other for the next few minutes, smiling, before blushing and laughing at how awkward the scene must have appeared.

Pikachu took this as his cue to give the two some space and he decided that it would be a good idea to take a tour of the hotel and maybe spend the night in the Pokémon suite with the rest of Ash's team. He then exited the room to allow Ash and Serena to share their romantic evening undisturbed. Ash and Serena heard the door close and looked around to see that Pikachu was no longer in the room. Ash was puzzled as to why Pikachu would leave without saying anything.

"Why'd Pikachu leave?" he wondered.

"Probably to give us some alone time," Serena whispered into his ear as she gripped his hand and led him to the balcony so they could look out over the city. As she led them onto the balcony, a fireworks display was starting up at the new Super Training Stadium.

Outside of the hotel room, Pikachu walked down the hallway, deciding to take a tour of the hotel, himself. He considered visiting his friends in Ash's Pokémon Suite as well as Serena's Pokémon suite but decided that he would visit them on the return trip. He wanted to take some time to himself and consider some of the things that were happening, particularly with Ash. He was not jealous of Serena for being Ash's best human friend, nor was he angry or annoyed with Ash for wanting to spend some time alone with Serena. In fact, Ash had not given any indication that he should have left, but there was still something different about Ash, different than before. And it was obvious enough that even _he_ could notice it.

Ash had never been romantically inclined towards anyone before, not even with Misty, who he had spent a large amount of time with on his journey, longer than with any of his other female traveling companions, having spent the better part of a year with her. However, Ash was older now, just having turned fourteen. From what little he knew of humans, this was about the time when boys started to become interested in girls. Still, there seemed to be more to it than that. His feelings for Serena had blossomed into romance very suddenly. In fact, he had not had any inclinations towards having actual romantic feelings for Serena until he had gotten off the plane. Yes, he had decided to come to Kalos instead of going to the World Tournament in Unova or facing off in the Kanto League again, and while he had been eager to catch up with all of his companions from Kalos, he had not shown romance with Serena as being a motivating factor for him coming to Kalos until he got off the plane and had seen Serena. Could Serena have had Delphox use Psychic to make Ash interested in her romantically? He doubted that. Serena was not that kind of person. Still, she had had a crush on Ash ever since she had first seen him in Kalos. He knew that Ash had a history with her, but he did not know the exact circumstances behind it, though he suspected it was Ash doing something nice for her when they were younger.

As he toured the hotel, he found a luxury restaurant on the top floor of the hotel, as well as a pool and a gym not far away. He was about to walk past the gym, not giving it a second thought, when he saw a human in the gym. He went over and peered through the glass and saw that the human was a girl approximately Ash's age with long black hair, wearing a white tank top and short black shorts. It was obviously workout gear. Pikachu though that the girl looked familiar, very much like that Asuka girl that had curbstomped Ash, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie in the battle down in the Grand Versailles Ballroom.

He watched as the girl performed several consecutive spinning back heel kicks, not stopping to rest after each one. It was all one fluid motion, far too fluid for anyone but either a dancer or a trained martial artist. After performing the kicks, she scanned the area, looking over at the glass for an instant, allowing Pikachu to see that she had blue eyes, rather than Asuka's green. Still, there was no doubt in Pikachu's mind that the girl that was training in the gym was the same one that had massacred Ash and friends in the battle in the ballroom.

He continued to watch as she threw a series of punches, and open palm strikes at the air. They were fast, faster than Pikachu would have expected from a fourteen year old girl. Not only were they fast, though, their form also appeared to be flawless. She quickly followed up the punches with a series of side kicks. As with the punches and strikes, her form was flawless. He continued to watch the girl until she stopped training, assuming a pose before bowing to no one in particular. She then retreated into a back room that likely had a shower or some sort of washroom. With no reason to remain at the gym, Pikachu departed and continued to tour the hotel.

He continued to tour the hotel to pass the time before heading back to Ash's Pokémon's suite. Along the way, he made his way past the gym once more and took one last peek inside. Just as he did so, he saw the girl from before walking out of the gym. This time, though, she was dressed a sky blue tank top with a black sleeveless undershirt and a red miniskirt. Pikachu's eyes went wide a he recognized the girl as being none other than Leaf. She was without any of her Pokémon, though. She smiled at the electric rodent, something that confused Pikachu a bit.

"Hello Pikachu," Leaf greeted, giving him a kind smile.

She then leaned down to pet him on the head. As she did so, Pikachu sniffed the air and his eyes went wide with shock as there was something very familiar about her scent. "Pi Pikapi kachu!"

Leaf could only smile knowingly at Pikachu's statement and his surprise. As if knowing exactly what he had said, she responded, "Yes, I am. I hope we weren't too rough on you earlier."

Pikachu's eyes went wide once more at Leaf's revelation. She and Asuka _were_ one and the same. The only question was whether or not Asuka was her real name, or merely a pseudonym. Pikachu smiled once more. "Pika," he answered, indicating that he had no hard feelings about how badly he and Ash's team lost to Asuka, or rather, Leaf. After all, it was one thing to lose to a simple student. It was something else to be beaten by the World Pokémon League Champion.

"So, why are you out here?" she asked. "Did Ash kick you out so he could spend some alone time with Serena?"

Pikachu shook his head, not worrying that Leaf knew about Ash and Serena's impromptu date. Leaf gave a knowing smile. "Well, I should get back," she told him. She then walked right past him and made her way towards the stairwell that would take her back to her floor. She then turned back and called, "It was nice meeting you Pikachu." With that, she turned and disappeared into the stairwell. With no further reason to be hanging around the gym, Pikachu made his way over to the stairwell and took it back to his floor as well, making certain to move quickly past Ash's room before making his way into the Pokémon suite so he could talk with the others and tell them that they had fought, and lost to, the World Pokémon League Champion so there was nothing to be ashamed of from that battle. If anything, Pikachu and the others talked about what they could learn from Leaf and her Pokémon's tactics.

Meanwhile, back in Ash's suite, he and Serena had been enjoying the fireworks show from the balcony of the suite. After the show had ended, they considered what to do next since it was only about nine o'clock in the evening. Serena suggested that they watch a romantic movie, but Ash was not interested in romantic movies, preferring something that had a little more action. After discussing a bit more, they decided that perhaps watching a movie was not the best idea for the moment. After a few more moments, and some more discussion, an idea came to Serena.

"Hey, how about I put on a fashion show just for you?" she suggested.

"A fashion show?" Ash asked, surprised at her suggestion of a fashion show. He knew that she was very interested in fashion, but her idol career had her trying on all sorts of clothes that she would likely never wear in public. He was also concerned about what might happen if some of the outfits were close to the line in terms of appropriateness if this show were ever seen by someone else.

"Sure," Serena answered. "I've got a ton of dresses and outfits that I've been dying to show off to someone. Who better than you, birthday boy?" she added with a sensuous wink, as she was oft to do since his return.

"Uh, okay," Ash answered tentatively. He had a feeling that Serena had other plans as well and that she was going awfully fast with this romance. He was not really interested in seeing a fashion show, but Serena was a friend and he did not want to disappoint her so he decided that it would be best to play along for the time being. Perhaps she would surprise him.

"Excellent!" she exclaimed. She then headed over to the bathroom, carrying several dresses and uniforms with her. "Now don't go away, I'll be back in a flash," she added playfully. She then retreated into the bathroom and closed the door.

As Ash waited for Serena to begin the 'show', a part of him hoped that Pikachu would return shortly. Another part of him, though, was glad that Pikachu was out. He was having a difficult time reconciling these two parts of him, or knowing which one was the one he should heed. In the back of his mind, he wondered if something was wrong with him since he had never shown romantic interest in any of his previous female traveling companions, many of who were actually beautiful, or even Serena, for that matter, until he had returned to Kalos. The other part of him told him that he was insane to entertain any thoughts that there was anything wrong. A beautiful girl was basically doing all but throw herself at him, and he had a feeling that that was about to change. Why should he deny himself her affections? In the end, he gave a chuckle and shook off any feelings of apprehension that anything may have been wrong. He would accept Serena's gift the moment she stepped out, which she did after a few more moments.

The moment Serena stepped out of the bathroom, Ash's eyes went wide, for Serena was dressed in her Fennekin cosplay outfit, which consisted of nothing more than a pink top that left her midriff exposed and a pink miniskirt. On her head, she wore a headband with a pink bow and a pair of Fennekin ears. On the back of her skirt was the short bushy tail that resembled a Fennekin tail. As Serena winked at Ash and did a cute pose for him, all he could do was look at her blankly, just as he had when he had first seen her in that outfit. She was gorgeous beyond words.

"So Ash, what do you think?" she asked with a wink and grin as she leaned towards him. She already knew what he thought of it; she just wanted him to vocalize it this time.

"Uh," Ash mumbled, unable to form a coherent thought other than that Serena was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Amorous thoughts swirled about his head and he had to do everything to stay under control. Eventually, he was able to form a coherent sentence. "You look marvelous."

"Thanks," she said, quickly siding up next to him. As she neared him, she gave a mischievous grin and said, "So, what do you want now, birthday boy?"

"Well, I don't really know," Ash answered. "I thought that you were gonna put on a fashion show."

"Well, this is my favorite outfit," she answered. "Besides, I'd rather just sit here with you and talk, if that's okay."

"Sure," Ash answered.

She then plopped right down onto the bed next to him, the soft bed allowing her to bounce a bit. She smiled as Ash asked, "Comfortable?"

"It sure is," she answered. "You really got a luxurious suite."

"Well, I'm stayin' here until the Battle Maison Tournament starts so I'll be in town for a bit. I hope to get in some extra training at the Super Training Stadium."

"That's nice," Serena answered. "As it so happens, I'm going to film an ad for PR Videos tomorrow."

"That's great," Ash exclaimed. "It must be good bein' famous."

"It has some perks, but there are other issues," she told him.

The two simply sat alone on the bed for a while, Ash not even bothering to turn on the television. The two gazed at each other until he asked Serena, "So, what's it like bein' a famous idol and Kalos Queen? Is it as fun as it seems?"

"It has its perks," she answered. However, there was something in her voice that indicated that there were some drawbacks. She soon confirmed it with her next statement. "But it's not all roses and cuteness. I have strict schedules to keep and Palermo does everything to make sure that I'm never caught in any compromising positions."

"What would be a compromising position?" Ash asked, concerned that her visit to his room dressed like this could be exactly what she was talking about.

"She makes sure that I don't do anything untoward or scandalous such as sleep with a boyfriend, take any illegal substances, fall in with the wrong crowd, that sort of thing."

"Okay," Ash said. He was not planning on sleeping with Serena and he did not have any illicit substances so he felt that there should have been no issues.

Ash said nothing else for a while and the two were then silent for a few minutes as they merely enjoyed each other's company, occasionally turning to gaze into each other's eyes. Eventually, Serena shifted her position, moving closer to Ash. As she did so, Ash turned his head and saw her gazing into his eyes, smiling. She continued to stare for a few moments before she decided to start the conversation.

"Um…Ash," she began, blushing. She then stopped, not knowing how to say what she wanted to tell him.

"What is it?" Ash asked, wondering what Serena was about to ask him.

"Um…Ash," Serena stammered for a moment before finally working up the courage to ask, "Do you like me?" She blushed as she looked down at the floor shyly.

Ash's eyes widened in surprise. "Sure, of course I like you. You're one of my best friends," he replied somewhat awkwardly. He wanted to comfort Serena, but he did not know exactly how to say what he wanted to say either. The truth was that he felt something more than just friendship towards her. He was beginning to realize that he had for quite a while. It was the reason he had come back to Kalos in the first place. He just did not know what that feeling was, though. He did not want that feeling, though, to drive a wedge and potentially ruin the friendship that they had already established. He knew that Serena had felt similarly about him. After all, he was not oblivious to how she was looking at him or how she behaved around him, even before his return to Kalos, he had noticed that she acted differently around him than any of his other traveling companions. Serena instantly blushed even more at Ash's answer. She felt a mixture of embarrassment as well as potential relief, for she sensed Ash's awkwardness in his answer but did not know for certain what to make of it. She then gazed at Ash and smiled at him once more.

"Ash," she said in a quiet voice. "I have to tell you something."

"What is it?" Ash asked.

Serena answered, "Ash, when I look at you, a feeling rises within me. I don't know how to explain it exactly, but it's more than just friendship. Heck, it's more than a crush, too." She paused, taking in a deep breath. She was about to do it. After almost a year since he had left Kalos, she was about to confess her feelings for him. She exhaled slowly and decided to take the plunge. "I, um, really spending time with you alone and all…like we are right now," she said, smiling, looking about the hotel room. She immediately stopped speaking and blushed. She pulled back for a bit and down. That had not come out the way she wanted at all and she knew it.

"I like spending time with you, too, Serena," she heard Ash tell her softly. She quickly looked up, her eyes wide with delight and she turned to face him, her heart skipping several beats as she heard him speak. She then neared him, sliding the few necessary feet until she was sitting right next to him, her face only a couple of feet away from his, her eyes beaming with giddiness. Ash's eyes went wide with surprise and a little bit of apprehension as he looked her in the eyes. "I really like you, too," he said, giving a kind smile, trying to bring a lighter tone to the situation.

"Ash," Serena eventually whispered, inching closer to him. "I think I love you." She stared into his eyes and leaned in closer to him.

"And if this feeling is romantic love, I think I love you, too," Ash answered, smiling.

The two then reached towards each other and took each other's hands. They continued to smile as they drew each other closer to themselves. Their faces inched closer and closer to each other and their lips parted in preparation for a kiss. They then moved in and embraced each other as they kissed. Soft sighs escaped their mouths as they kissed, their bodies drifting into mindless passion as Ash fell onto his back, Serena laying on top of him as they continued to kiss.

After a minute or so, they stopped and withdrew a bit, the two still staring longingly into each other's eyes, not uttering a word. Eventually, Serena asked, "Well?"

Ash did not give an immediate answer, not knowing what to say. "What?" he eventually asked, and immediately regretted it as Serena's gaze became harsh in absolute disbelief as she pulled away and crossed her arms, which greatly accentuated her burgeoning figure.

"The kiss, of course," she blurted.

"Oh, um, it was great," Ash eventually answered, as his concern of their kiss being discovered and causing problems for Serena conflicted with the painful awareness of how lovely she was in that outfit as well as in the dim lights. Fortunately, Serena's expression softened.

"Wonderful," she exclaimed excitedly, uncrossing her arms, which almost caused Ash to give a shrug. Instead, a sigh of relief came out.

"Well, that was unexpected," Ash eventually stated, giving a soft uncomfortable laugh. A part of him wanted to kiss her again, but another part knew that if he did, that things could quickly spiral out of his control. He had no romantic experience whatsoever and he knew that the feelings in his heart were boiling over to the surface. If he gave in to his passions, he would never be able to pull back.

"What makes you say that?" Serena asked, leaning back in closer to the boy.

"I didn't expect to have those feelings well up inside of me as strongly as they did when we kissed," Ash answered. "I was this close to losing control." He then pinched his thumb and index finger until they were less than a millimeter away from touching.

"Of what?" Serena asked with apprehension, fearing Ash's response.

"Of my feelings and possibly my actions," Ash answered. He then looked her in the eyes, but his gaze was not one of lust. It was serious, which almost took Serena aback. "Serena, I've never had this reaction with any other girl in my life, not even the prettier ones, and I have known some pretty girls, though none as pretty as you," he added quickly, bringing a smile to her face, which told him that his life was not going to be in danger for a while. "Still, I'm just fourteen and I was so close to going all the way with you just now."

"And that's a bad thing?" Serena asked, not bothering to hide her desire for him. She then gazed longingly at the boy and Ash's eyes went wide with apprehension to almost fear as he felt his lust welling within him.

"Well, maybe," Ash answered. "I mean, there would be consequences if we went all the way with this."

"Such as?"

"Well, don't you have a morality clause in your contract?"

"This is Kalos," Serena said. "It's part of France. Lumiose City is also known as Paris in United Earth, which is also known as the City of Love."

"But would doing this now be love, or just lust?" Ash asked, stroking Serena's cheek affectionately. "I think that there's more to love than just kissing and sex. When I said I think I love you, I meant it. And I'm beginning to wonder about that 'think' part now." As he had continued talking, a part of him wondered why he was saying this now. This was far more advanced a topic than he ever could have imagined and a part of him wondered if he was even the one speaking these words.

"Well, if it's any consolation to you, I _know_ I love you, Ash Ketchum," Serena answered, leaning in and covering his mouth with her own. The kiss was one-sided for a couple of seconds until Ash responded, drawing her in closer as well, passion overriding the voice warning him to control his actions. The two began caressing each other as they kissed, eventually moving their hands towards their clothing straps and sleeves when they both fell down onto the bed, Ash laying on top of Serena, the two gazing into each other's eyes for a moment before kissing some more, soft sighs and moans leaking out of their mouths as they were in the throes of passion. As they continued to kiss, there was a knock at the door that snapped them out of the throes of passion as terror suddenly entered both of their hearts.

"Darn it, now of all times," Ash seethed as the knocking continued. He quickly rose from the bed and frantically worked at his hair and clothing, trying to make them presentable. "One minute!" he called over to the door. He then looked over at Serena, whose face was aghast at the potential of being discovered here with him in this compromising position and dress. She was frantically looking around, wondering what to do and where she should go. "Hurry into the bathroom and close the door," Ash said in hushed tones, hoping that whoever was on the other side of the door did not hear him. "Don't turn on the light. I'll let you know when the coast is clear."

Serena did as she was directed, not saying a word as she hurried into the bathroom to conceal her presence. The bathroom door then closed, the click of the door causing Ash to wince despite it not being loud, and he rushed over the door in order to answer it. He looked through the small glass hole in the door and saw that it was a Tyranitar dressed in a tuxedo. The Pokémon looked strange and Ash could have sworn that the Tyranitar had been the bouncer from the party.

He opened the door and said, "Yes, what is it?" in a bit of a harsher tone than expected. He became concerned when he realized that the harsh tone could indicate to the Pokémon that he had interrupted something. More importantly, though, was the fact that the harsh tone could risk setting off Tyranitar's temper, assuming that this one had a short temper, and that could be disastrous not only for Ash and Serena, but the whole hotel as well. Had he realized just whom this Tyranitar was actually affiliated with, he would have realized that he dodged a huge bullet when Tyranitar did not have a temper tantrum that would have leveled the entire hotel, and probably a significant part of the block.

As for Tyranitar, the massive Rock/Dark-type Pokémon took everything in stride and held out a Mega Ring with a Key Stone in its slot. It gave a series of guttural roars and growls that Ash could not translate perfectly, though he did seem to get the gist of what the Tyranitar was saying. It was telling him that it had found his Mega Ring and was returning it to him.

"I already have a Mega Ring, thank you," Ash said, his voice even and his expression much softer than it had been before.

Tyranitar looked at him quizzically as he still held out the Mega Ring. It then gave another series of grunts and growls and then thrust the ring towards Ash.

"No, thank you," Ash said more forcefully. "I already have a Mega Ring. That ring must belong to someone else."

Tyranitar then put his finger to his chin and gave a quizzical grumble as he seemingly tried to think of whom the Mega Ring could belong to. He then gave another quizzical series of grunts and groans. However, this series caused Ash's eyes to go wide with shock, for he thought that he could hear Tyranitar growl, "Rer-ree-ra," in the line of questioning that Ash almost immediately took to mean _Serena_.

This was bad. Had Serena's visit already been discovered by a member of the hotel's staff? He had to do everything he could to protect Serena. The good news was that he had not seen her with a Mega Ring at all, so chances were that the ring did not belong to her. Still, he asked, "Who's…Rer-ree-ra?"

"Rer-ree-ra," Tyranitar answered. It then added a series of guttural grunts and growls, as if trying to describe her.

A bead of sweat formed on Ash's brow, fearing that Tyranitar had gotten a good look at Serena and knew that the two of them were at the very least friends. The Pokémon thrust the Mega Ring back towards Ash, who still did not accept it.

"This Mega Ring isn't mine and I don't know who this 'Rer-ree-ra' is," he insisted. "I'm afraid you've got the wrong room."

He then attempted to close the door, only for Tyranitar to push it open to keep it from closing, slamming it into the wall, nearly cracking it. Tyranitar shook its head and focused its gaze on Ash, issuing another series of grunts. Ash began to grow even more concerned. He knew that if it came to a shoving match that he was no match for Tyranitar. Tyranitar continued to stare at Ash, almost as if it knew that Ash was shielding someone or something.

Fortunately, he would not have to answer any of Tyranitar's further questions, for the elevator door opened down the hall and Tyranitar turned to see who it was that was coming. Ash headed out into the corridor and saw Pikachu running down the hall, a smile plastered onto his face. As soon as Pikachu saw Ash, he called, "Pikapi! Pi-ka pi-ka kachu!"

"Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed the electric mouse rushed over to him, jumping into his arms for a hug before jumping back down. Tyranitar looked down at Pikachu, its expression blank. Pikachu looked up at Tyranitar and instantly recognized the Pokémon as having belonged to Leaf. Speaking of Leaf, Pikachu turned and saw Leaf calmly walking down the hall towards the hotel room.

"Pikapi, pi-ka-chu kachu, Pii!" the Pokémon exclaimed as he looked over at Leaf.

Ash turned and saw Leaf walking down towards his hotel room, the girl stopping when she was a dozen feet away. Ash's eyes went wide as he instantly recognized her as the World Pokémon League Champion as well as the current Kanto League Champion.

"My gosh, you're Leaf," he gasped, almost in disbelief. Pikachu gave Ash a quizzical look as he made his statement.

Leaf looked at him, gave him a kind smile, and nodded.

"Pika Pikapi! Pi-ka kachu!" Pikachu cried.

"It looks like Pikachu's trying to tell you something," she noted, looking down at Pikachu and then back at Ash.

"Yeah," Ash said. "I just wish I knew what he was sayin'."

"Why don't you buy some translation software?" Leaf suggested. "There are some high-level programs developed in Kanto by Silph Corporation. Maybe when you visit home again, you can get it."

Ash's eyes then flashed with shock. "How do you know I'm from Kanto?"

"First, you're very close to your Pikachu, so I'm guessing that he's your starter. Second, I've studied a lot of Trainers around the various Pokémon Leagues and I know that your first League was the Indigo League in Kanto. Third, you have a Charizard, who I'm guessing is your strongest Pokémon."

Ash blushed with embarrassment as she was one hundred percent accurate in everything she had just said. Leaf looked over at him and gave him a kind smile. "Hey, don't get so down. Today's your birthday, you should be happy. You had a wonderful birthday party down in the ballroom."

Ash's eyes then flashed with realization as he stared at Leaf. "Asuka," he gasped. "That was you?"

Leaf smiled and nodded. "I have a confession to make. I'm not a schoolgirl doing a report on Trainers. However, I _am_ studying various Trainers and their battling styles for upcoming battles."

"I suspected as much when you beat us in that battle, if you can call that a battle, that is," Ash added. Ash noticed that Leaf's eyes began to light up at his statement and her expression turned to one of pure happiness.

"You may be surprised to hear this, but you did a lot better than many I've faced before," Leaf told him, "especially for someone who did not use his strongest Pokémon. Who knows what would have happened if you used Charizard, Sceptile, and/or Snorlax in that battle."

"So, I must know, is it Leaf, or Asuka?"

At that instant, Ash saw her expression seemingly darken for an instant before she gave a shy smile. "My codename is Leaf. You may call me that for the time being."

"Okay," Ash answered, nodding.

The two smiled and Ash suddenly had a feeling well up inside of him that was different than the feelings he had for Serena, but were just as strong, if not even stronger. He could not put it into words, but he felt as if he knew Leaf from somewhere. He stared at her and he had to suppress a sigh as he was suddenly aware of the fact that she may well have been the most beautiful girl he had ever met, possibly matched only by Serena and/or Dawn. However, his feelings for her were by no means romantic. They were different, purer in a way that he could not describe. For whatever reason, the thought of kissing her, especially the way he and Serena had been kissing before Tyranitar's interruption, would have revolted him, if the thought had even crossed his mind.

As he was grappling with the feelings that were welling up inside of him at the sight of the beautiful World Champion, Tyranitar stepped forward and gave a grunt, snapping Ash out of his reverie. Both Ash and Leaf looked over at Tyranitar and the Pokémon shoved the Mega Ring towards Ash's grasp, giving a series of grunts and growls, along with a "Rer-ree-ra," in the process.

"It's not mine!" Ash cried. "And I don't know who this 'Rer-ree-ra' is, either!"

Leaf took a look at the Mega Ring and then glanced back at Tyranitar, asking, "Hey, isn't that _my_ Mega Ring?"

Now it was Tyranitar's turn to be embarrassed and greatly concerned as he heard, and felt, Leaf tapping her foot on the hotel floor. The Pokémon tentatively glanced back at Leaf, a look of fear crossing the Pokémon's face as he saw Leaf tapping her foot, her arms crossed, showing off her ample burgeoning figure, something Ash noticed as he began to have a protective feeling come over him.

Tyranitar slumped forward and nodded, handing the Mega Ring over to Leaf, who accepted the ring and gave Tyranitar a forgiving smile. "Thanks Tee-tar," she told the Pokémon. A mischievous grin then crossed her face as she asked, "So Tee-tar, who's this 'Rer-ree-ra' you've been talking about?"

Tyranitar grinned as he answered in a series of grunts, including grunts that sounded like, "Ra ruh Rer-ree-ra," punctuated by kissing sounds and an expression that seemed to be mimicking an expression of infatuation.

Ash's face immediately turned red as Leaf turned to him and gave him a quizzical look. Her expression quickly evolved into a mixture between mirth and disbelief. "You have a girlfriend?" she blurted. "Ash the Oblivious has a girlfriend?" She could scarcely contain her pleasant shock.

Ash gave no answer, his face still red with embarrassment. Leaf turned to Tyranitar, who was still making kissing sounds, which brought a scowl to Leaf's face before she turned back to Ash, her expression softening, but not as mirthful as it had been before. "Aren't you a little young for that sort of thing?"

"It's nothing," Ash said, trying to convince Leaf that he was not seeing anyone, much less Serena, a burgeoning idol. Still, he noticed that Leaf was no longer scowling. Instead, she was smiling, and it was not one of mischief, but was far more comforting.

"Don't worry, Ash. I won't say anything about this. After all, I don't know for sure what's going on."

Ash then breathed a sigh of relief. He then retreated back into his room as Pikachu went to the Pokémon suite. Once he was inside his room, he looked back and peered through the hole once more, just to make sure that no one else was coming. When he was certain that the coast was clear and that there were no foreseeable interruptions, he went over to the bathroom door and knocked on it.

"You can come out now. The coast is clear," he told Serena.

He backed away and Serena emerged from the bathroom, breathing a sigh of relief. "Well, that was a near disaster," she stated.

Ash could only nod in agreement. Serena then wasted no time getting back to her original plan as she rushed towards Ash and asked seductively, "Now, where were we?"

With that, she kissed him on the mouth again. "Ah, that's where," she said, answering her own question and giving Ash a sensuous smile.

The two began kissing again as Ash leaned backwards onto the soft bed, his body drifting back into mindless passion when he began to remember what he had said to her earlier and he attempted to steel his resolve not to dishonor Serena, for even if no one else knew what was about to happen this night, the two of them would.

He disengaged his mouth from hers and looked at her longingly, smiling. "You're the most beautiful girl I've ever met," he sighed.

"And you're the handsomest boy I've ever met," she answered as she leaned into him more and kissed him again.

As they kissed, there was another knock at the door, causing the two to jump up and yelp in shock. Still, as they jumped, Ash had the feeling that it was just Tyranitar having fun with him and he decided that he would not answer the door. Soon, there was another knock. Ash grunted and rose from the bed.

"Alright, I'm coming!" he yelled as he went over to the hotel room door and peered through the hole, seeing Leaf on the other side. He then opened the door. "What is it?" he asked, making it clear by his tone that the girl had interrupted him.

"I have a birthday present for you," Leaf answered. She then handed him a small box.

"But you already gave me a birthday present at the party."

"Yeah, well, I forgot to give this one to you," Leaf came back, holding out the box for Ash. "Besides, this was the thing Tyranitar was supposed to give you, not the Mega Ring." She leaned in close and whispered, "I think he just wanted to see some hot, steamy action." She looked back at Tyranitar, who was standing out in the hallway, now being flanked by Starmie and Chandelure, and mock scowled at him. Ash peered into the hallway and saw the two Pokémon flanking Tyranitar, giving a more direct scowl. He then accepted the gift. "Anyway, I hope the present helps you with your goal."

The girl then backed away, preparing to leave, but before doing so, she added one more thing. "Hey Ash, tell Serena that she battled quite well for a beginner. She has a good deal of talent when it comes to battling. In fact, I would say that it comes more naturally to her than performing." She then paused as she looked past Ash to try to see into the room to see if Serena was out in the open or in hiding. "I must say that I'm also surprised that Serena decided to be a Performer rather than a Trainer. She has a great deal of potential as a Battle Trainer," she said in a loud voice that sounded more like a call, causing Ash to become worried that her staying in his room would be revealed. He gave a short cry of shock and immediately shut the door on the girl.

Ash immediately backed away from the door and locked it with the deadbolt, not even remembering to thank Leaf for the gift. There was no way he was going to go back out there to talk to her. When he went inside, holding the box, Serena took one look at him, and the box, and asked in a stern tone, "Who was at the door and what did she want?"

Ash, only now realizing that he was still holding onto the box, quickly tossed it onto the smaller bed and rushed over to Serena. When he did not immediately answer her, she stood up, put her hands on her hips, and went, "Well?"

"Oh, uh, that was Leaf," Ash eventually answered.

Serena's eyes flashed. "Leaf?" she almost gasped. " _The_ Leaf? The World Pokémon League Champion Leaf?"

"Uh huh," Ash answered nodding. "And get this; she was also the Trainer that we faced down at the party."

"I see," Serena said, not interested in remembering that embarrassing battle. "And what did she want?"

"To give me another birthday present," came Ash's answer. He then motioned towards the box on the smaller bed. "I haven't opened it yet."

"Is that all?" Serena asked suspiciously.

"I don't know," Ash answered with a shrug. "She told me to tell you that you have a lot of natural talent when it comes to battling and that she was surprised that you chose to be a Performer, rather than a battler. I also got the impression that she was more impressed by your battling skill than your singing, dancing, and performing."

Serena's eyes flashed when Ash said that. For a moment, memories came back into her mind of when she was younger and had gone to the Sky Trainer Academy in Vaniville Town. She had had excellent grades and was at the top of her class but had withdrawn from the school for reasons that even _she_ could not remember. Maybe she had gotten nervous as commencement had approached, maybe she did not like it all that much, but for whatever reason, she had withdrawn from the school. Her withdrawing from the school had shocked her teachers and even her friend, Calem. She also felt as if her decision had disappointed him and they had grown apart since that fateful decision. A part of her began to regret that decision and she suddenly wondered if her life was going in the right direction. She shook off the doubts just as quickly as they had entered her mind, though. She was the Kalos Queen. She had fame, was gaining fortune, and Ash was finally reciprocating her feelings for him. All in all, things were going great. In fact, it was a dream come true. So why did she suddenly have a feeling, even if only for a fleeting moment, that this was all going wrong; that this was not the course of action that she was supposed to be taking, or even what she actually wanted to do?

"Hey Serena, you okay?" she heard Ash ask. She snapped out of her reverie and turned to see the concerned boy looking at her questioningly.

"Sure, I'm fine," she answered. She then smiled at him and asked, "So, what now, birthday boy?"

"Maybe we can watch a movie or something," Ash suggested, not wanting to get into a compromising position with Serena.

Serena nodded and answered, "Sure, what did you have in mind?"

"Let's see what's available," Ash answered as he grabbed the remote and turned the television on. He then went through the movie guide to see what he and Serena could watch before turning in for the night. Still, as he was sifting through the selections, a thought came to him about how Tyranitar had discovered his feelings for Serena. He decided that it would be best to not be too romantic during the evening, fearing that the Starmie or Chandelure could sense anything they would do during the night.

Meanwhile, outside Ash's hotel room, Leaf and Tyranitar were still standing outside the room, Tyranitar grinning as Ash slammed the door shut. "Ro-reah, rah-rer-ray-run rock rock ra ro-rete ruh-ress!" the Pokémon exclaimed.

Leaf looked at him quizzically. "Rah-rer-ray…oh," she finished, grimacing as she realized just what Tyranitar had been saying. She then glared back at Tyranitar. "Okay you, time for you to head back into our suite."

Tyranitar's eyes went wide as he heard Leaf's suggestion. Turning towards her, he saw her no nonsense gaze and realized that she was serious. The Pokémon shrugged and immediately turned around to head back to Leaf's suite. As Tyranitar passed Starmie and Chandelure, the two Pokémon turned to follow, but Leaf told them, "Hold on you two."

They immediately stopped and turned towards Leaf and floated on over to her. Once they arrived, she asked in a hushed voice, "Did you get all of that?"

Both Pokémon bobbed up and down in the affirmative.

"Good," Leaf told them. "Did you sense anything strange coming from Ash during either of our talks?"

Again, they bobbed up and down in the affirmative. They then telepathically told her that they had managed to sense an outside influence over the two occupants of the hotel room and that it was still going on at this moment. Even better, was the fact that they had managed to trace it back to its source for a fleeting moment. Apparently, either Leaf or Ash had said something that greatly disturbed the outside force that had taken an interest in the two lovebirds, as Tyranitar was calling them.

"You did?" Leaf blurted, almost in disbelief.

Both Pokémon bobbed up and down again.

"Are you sure you managed to get an accurate fix on the location?"

They bobbed up and down again. They proceeded to telepathically relay the location of the outside force that was affecting Ash and Serena. It was on the roof of the hotel. Leaf gave them a satisfied grin.

"Can you two shield yourselves from a scan from this force?" she asked them.

They telepathically relayed that if the unknown force was preoccupied with keeping Ash and Serena under their influence, then yes, they could shield their presence while they went up to the location since they had managed to track the force up to the roof already.

"Good, you two come with me. We're headed to the roof," Leaf told them.

They then telepathically inquired as to whether or not the others should come along.

Leaf shook her head. "No, we can't afford to draw too much attention. Even though Tyranitar is part Dark-type, he's also huge. He would be noticed by other visitors and that could be relayed to whatever psychic force is either influencing or controlling Ash and Serena. It's best that the three of us do this alone. I've got faith in you."

The Pokémon then thanked Leaf for the confidence that she had in them. The trio then proceeded to make their way to the stairwell so they could head up to the roof.

Meanwhile, on the roof of the hotel, the two Malamars psychically watched as Ash and Serena watched a movie in their hotel room. The two's feelings for each other had not quieted since Leaf's interruption, though they noticed that Ash was actively making certain that nothing untoward actually took place between the two of them. They had been worried when Leaf had interrupted them and had made her loud statement that Serena could almost certainly hear. Even worse was the fact that certain memories had come to mind for a fleeting moment before they had gotten back into her mind and pushed them back down. Ash's presence was a godsend for them, for it was easy for them to amplify her feelings towards him since she had already had them, even before the boy had come to Kalos. His presence would ensure that Serena would remain preoccupied with him, rather than on any lingering thoughts of the past, or doubts as to her current path in life.

Their attention was soon diverted to Leaf, who they attempted to scan and found that it was quite difficult to do so, especially since they still had to focus on Ash and Serena. Even more, though, she seemed to be talking to a blank space in the hotel, which indicated to them that she either had, or was friends with, a Dark-type Pokémon.

[What should we do about the girl?] one of the Malamars asked.

[We can't worry about her right now,] the other one answered. [We must continue to focus on Ash and Serena, mainly Serena. She is the real potential threat. We must make sure that the process becomes irreversible. Then, only then, will her threat truly be neutralized.]

[But it's happening tonight,] the first Malamar challenged. [We don't have to worry about that anymore, do we?]

[We can't be too careful,] the second Malamar answered. [Serena was destined to become a threat to our plans. We must neutralize that threat through non-lethal means. All we need to do is make sure that she does not become the hero she was supposed to become. Once that is accomplished, all will fall into place and everything will transpire as we desire.]

The first Malamar nodded. Its cohort was right. The clear and present threats had been dealt with. Ash was not strong enough a Trainer to be a real challenge to them, or Team Flare, and Serena was an idol, rather than a hero. They returned their attention to Serena and Ash, sharing a romantic evening while watching _The Three Stooges_ , oblivious to the fact that Leaf and two Champion-level Pokémon were headed their way.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Meanwhile, back in their hotel room, Ash and Serena were watching a comedy short of _The Three Stooges_. Serena had snuggled in towards Ash and the two were holding hands all throughout the episode. Serena had been skeptical when Ash had chosen a series of _Three Stooges_ episodes for them to watch, but he felt that with the more serious tone of his conversation with Leaf, as well as his fear of Serena's visit having been discovered, he wanted to watch something more lighthearted. Eventually, she had acquiesced to his desires and agreed to the series.

Merely a minute into the first episode, she was glad that Ash had insisted on _The Three Stooges_. She had laughed at the first slapstick hit and as the episode progressed, she was practically in tears with laughter. She wondered how she could never have heard of this comedy group before. Ash had explained that they were from the twentieth century America but they lasted even to this day.

When the episode had ended, Serena was grinning from ear to ear. "That was wonderful, Ash. It's a wonder I've never heard of the Three Stooges before."

"Well, they did come from the twentieth century America," Ash commented. "Still, from what I hear, they have their fans, even to this day, just like Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny do."

"Are there more episodes?" Serena asked, eagerly anticipating the next one.

"Sure, the hotel seems to have all of them archived. I'll bring up another one."

He then clicked on the remote control and a chronology of _The Three Stooges_ appeared on the screen. Ash then selected the episode, _Disorder in the Court_ , saying, "This seems like it'll be a funny one."

Serena did not disagree and she laid her head on his shoulders as he selected the episode. The two of them then sat there as they watched as the introduction of the episode began, the two teenagers holding hands, completely oblivious to what was going on above them.

Meanwhile, Leaf, Starmie, and Chandelure made their way up the stairwell that led the roof. Starmie and Chandelure used their psychic abilities to shield the trio from detection by whatever force was up on the roof. She knew that it would be difficult to shield themselves if the perpetrators were at least part Dark-type Pokémon since both Starmie and Chandelure were using Psychic to shield themselves, but there was also the fact that they were focused on Ash and Serena at the moment, so they may have been able to avoid detection even if the opposing force consisted of Dark-type Pokémon.

When the trio reached the roof, Starmie used Psychic to open the door as quickly and quietly as possible so that they would not alert whoever was up there to their presence. Once the door was opened, the girl and her two Pokémon friends stormed onto the roof, scanning the entire area for any signs of anyone who may have been trying to influence or outright control Ash and Serena. They quickly came upon the culprits when they saw two Malamars standing near the chimney, the Pokémon's eyes glowing as they were doing everything in their power to reinforce Ash and Serena's romantic feelings for one another.

Meanwhile, Leaf and her two Pokémon friends were staring at the Malamars for a bit. Leaf turned to the two Pokémon and asked, "Are these Malamars the force that you detected earlier?"

The two Pokémon glanced at the two squid-like Pokémon and scanned them. Much as they had expected, they could not scan their minds, but they could still sense the energy emanating from them. It was the same energy that they had felt affecting Ash and Serena. They turned to Leaf and bobbed up and down in the affirmative. She then took out her Pokédex and scanned them. The report came back in a masculine voice, "Malamar, the Overturning Pokémon. Malamar wields the most compelling hypnotic powers of any Pokémon, and it forces others to do whatever it wants."

She read the readout of Malamar, which indicated that it was a Dark/Psychic-type Pokémon, which explained why Starmie and Chandelure were unable to detect the Pokémon directly through Psychic. She then selected known moves that Malamar could learn. She was not surprised to find Hypnosis and Psybeam among the moves. She also noticed that it did not normally learn Psychic or a lot of powerful Dark-type moves naturally, which surprised her, but it could learn both Psychic and Dark Pulse through TM. She also learned that it could use Destiny Bond via breeding, something that she had a feeling these Malamar were.

She took her Pokémon aside and told them, "Okay, Malamar is a Dark-slash-Psychic-type Pokémon. That means that Psychic-type attacks won't work on it. Also, it can use Dark Pulse through TM and also has the potential to use Destiny Bond if it was bred with the move. We'll have to be careful here."

The other Pokémon nodded. Still, they knew what they had to do. These Malamar were up to something and Leaf wanted to know what it was. She then stepped forward and made her presence known.

"Hello," she called out to the Malamar, shocking them out of their focus on Ash and Serena and causing them to turn to her. "May I ask what you two are doing here?"

"Malamar malamar malamar," one of the Malamar retorted. Taking out her Pokédex and activating its translation software, a masculine voice translated the Pokémon's statement as, "We were about to ask you the same thing."

"You two were doing something with a person that is important to me," Leaf told them. "I want you to tell me what it is you're doing and why."

"Mal," came the answer, which was translated as, "no".

"You're trying to mind control Ash Ketchum, aren't you," she declared.

The Pokémon's eyes flashed in surprise. How had she managed to glean what they were doing? They then noticed that she had mentioned the boy, Ash, and not the girl, Serena, who was their primary target. Ash was merely the unfortunate dupe that was needed in order for their work on Serena to have the greatest chance of success. Leaf was quick to notice that she was on to something and she pressed on. "Why are you trying to mind control Ash and Serena? Who's ordering you to do this and what are your goals?"

[Our goals are beyond your comprehension,] the first Malamar declared proudly. [You have no business here, girl. Leave now or there will be consequences.]

"Not a chance," Leaf declared in response. "Not until you release Ash and Serena."

[Their actions right now are for the accomplishment of our goals. They are where they need to be, doing the things they need to do. Besides, it's the boy's birthday. Shouldn't he have some fun?]

"What a coincidence, it's mine too. And what I want for my birthday present is for you to release him and Serena immediately."

[Never,] the second Malamar declared. [He will serve us until his usefulness has ended.] The Malamar then leered at Leaf. [And so will you.]

With that, the lights on its front began to blink and it attempted to hypnotize Leaf into becoming its servant, just as it had with so many others, humans and Pokémon alike. The only difference was that Leaf had a much stronger mind than any of their previous victims. Still, Malamar had the strongest hypnotic powers of any Pokémon. For a brief second, Leaf's expression went blank, as it appeared as if she had come under the Malamar's thrall. However, that would not last long, for she quickly blinked her eyes and shook off the effects of the Malamar's Hypnosis. She then glared at them, not saying a word.

The Malamars recoiled in shock as they suddenly realized that if they wished to hypnotize her, they would have to work together. As such, they both began to use Hypnosis on the girl, their eyes glowing and the lights on their bodies beginning to blink in strange patterns. Leaf steeled her mind against their hypnotic assault and stood firm. She gritted her teeth as she fought off their repeated attempts to enthrall her.

"I…will…not…be…your…puppet!" she declared forcefully as she withstood their assault and kept them frozen, focusing their whole attention on her. "Now," she growled in declaration.

That was the cue for Starmie and Chandelure to engage the two Pokémon. Starmie was the first to come out, unleashing a massive Hydro Pump on the first Malamar, while Chandelure quickly followed, unleashing a Fire Blast on the other. With the Malamars too focused on trying to hypnotize Leaf, they were unable to sense the attacks of Starmie and Chandelure and were caught completely off guard. The attacks scored direct hits on the Pokémon and forced them backwards, inflicting significant damage to the two Malamars. They grunted with each hit and looked past Leaf and at the two Pokémon in shock. How could two Pokémon know to use such attacks against them like that without being given an order? They then scowled as they realized that they were not the only ones who could fight just as strongly without a Trainer backing them up as they could with a Trainer. They quickly realized that if they were to have a chance against Leaf's Pokémon, that they would have to focus the entirety of their attention on the battle.

The Pokémon glanced at each other and nodded, before picking their targets and firing a barrage of Dark Pulse at the two opposing Pokémon. Starmie and Chandelure went evasive and managed to avoid the Dark Pulses, retaliating with Hydro Pump and Fire Blast respectively. That forced the two Malamars to use Psychic to telekinetically deflect the attacks. They quickly retaliated with two more Dark Pulses. Starmie and Chandelure, went evasive again, attempting to avoid the attacks, but the Malamars were leading their shots this time and managed to score direct hits on the two Pokémon. The force of the attacks pushed the two Pokémon back a few feet and even though they had suffered direct hits, they did not suffer much damage despite the attacks being super effective against them. The two Malamars recoiled in shock at the fact that Starmie and Chandelure had suffered such little damage from their Dark Pulses, each of which was super effective against them.

They grimaced as they tried another tactic. They both began to focus on Leaf's two Pokémon and used Hypnosis, the yellow spots on their bodies lighting up as they attempted to hypnotize the two Pokémon, hoping to either control them, or at least put them to sleep. However, just as with Leaf, their Hypnosis did not affect Chandelure or Starmie, each of who closed their eyes, using their Psychic senses to locate the two Malamars by sensing the energy of the Hypnosis. The two Pokémon then readied more attacks to launch at the two Malamars, Chandelure powering up a Fire Blast to sweep across the opposing Pokémon while Starmie hung back. The Malamars grinned as they used Psychic once more to erect a telekinetic barrier to intercept the attack, the barrier sending the Fire Blast wide, and over the roof of the building and out into the night. Still, Chandelure and Starmie were quite satisfied with how the battle was progressing.

What the Malamars had not noticed was that their use of Psychic to deflect the Fire Blast left them open to a direct attack by Leaf, who quickly lowered her shoulder and charged towards one of the Malamars. Despite merely being a human teenager, her charge was strong enough to force the Malamar backwards, and towards the edge of the roof. Leaf then delivered a side kick that knocked the Malamar back over the edge of the roof. However, since Malamar could levitate, it was not all that troubled by Leaf's attack and it levitated above the city, grinning at Leaf.

[Is that all you've got?] it mocked. [I'll destroy you, your friends, and your Pokémon!]

Leaf grimaced, which made Malamar grin in satisfaction. It then used Psychic to keep Leaf frozen in place when an Ice Beam seemingly came out of nowhere and struck the floating Pokémon squarely in the chest. A sheet of ice was forming over the Malamar and it suddenly saw Leaf grinning. Her attack and the opening she had left had been nothing more than a diversion to allow her Starmie to get into a better position to strike. The Ice Beam remained focused on the Malamar as Starmie wanted to make certain that it was completely frozen. The other Malamar attempted to assist the first one, but was intercepted by a Fire Blast, which scored a direct hit on it, sending the Pokémon flying towards the roof's edge, the blast of fire inflicting major damage to the Pokémon.

Back at the first Malamar, the Ice Beam soon finished and the first Malamar was nothing more than a frozen statue. Once the Pokémon had been completely frozen, it fell to the ground, its psychic power no longer being able to keep it airborne, where it fell to the ground, shattering into a thousand pieces on impact. Leaf looked over the edge of the roof and grimaced. One Malamar was down, leaving only one more for them to deal with.

The surviving Malamar's eyes went wide with shock as it saw its cohort fall to the ground and shatter. That girl's Starmie had just killed a Pokémon, with the girl providing the opening necessary for the attack. Granted the Pokémon was evil, but she had still used deadly force against a Pokémon. None of their opponents had ever done that before. What made it more shocking for the Malamar was the fact that Leaf did not seem to have any real reaction to the Pokémon's death, almost as if this was not the first time she or her team had used deadly force.

The Malamar turned to see Leaf glaring at it. Her two Pokémon friends soon formed up around her and the squid-like Pokémon knew that it had no chance of defeating two Pokémon, especially when each Malamar had had enough trouble dealing with her Pokémon one-on-one. Leaf then neared the Malamar, her gaze unwavering.

"Whatever you did to my brother, undo it now," the girl demanded in a low, cold voice.

The Malamar's eyes flashed, seemingly in shock. [What are you talking about?] the Pokémon asked, seemingly wondering what the girl was talking about. She was not buying it, though.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. You did something to my brother's mind. I want you to undo any damage you did and return him to normal."

[I don't know what you're talking about. The only two people we've affected were Ash and Serena. And of those, I was assigned to Serena. Ash was influenced by my partner, the one who's now shattered down on the pavement below. My partner was killed before the process could be completed with the boy.]

A feeling of hope came into Leaf's mind. It sounded as if Ash was free of the Malamar's influence and this one was too busy with Serena. Still, there was the issue of Serena to deal with. "Then undo whatever you've done to Serena," the girl demanded.

The Malamar grinned. [It's too late,] it told her. [The girl's programming is already complete. It was completed a while ago. I was just reinforcing it to make it irreversible, which I just now have finished. The female Hero of Kalos will never awaken and the male has already suffered an unfortunate betrayal and his threat is neutralized. It's too late. You can't do anything to stop our plans. Ash is not strong enough and Serena will forever be an idol and Performer, not a Trainer and fighter. We've won, girl.]

With that, the Malamar proceeded to unleash a bright flash of light that forced Leaf and Starmie to look away lest they go blind. Chandelure, however, was not affected, but he still remained behind as he did his utmost to help Leaf and Starmie recover from the Flash. During the confusion, though, the remaining Malamar quickly fled the scene, flying off the roof of the building, doing everything it could to cloak its presence and keep itself from sending out any energy that could be detected by either of Leaf's Pokémon, hoping that the precious few seconds it would get would be enough of a head start to get it safely away from Leaf and her Pokémon. It needed to make its report to Xerosic before she managed to find it and finish what was started on the top of Hotel Richissime.

Back on the roof of the hotel, Leaf looked out over the cityscape and managed to catch a glimpse of Malamar before it disappear behind a skyscraper. She turned to Chandelure and asked, "Did you manage to spot that Malamar?"

Chandelure bobbed up and down.

"Did you sense enough energy from it for you to be able to track?"

Chandelure telepathically relayed the fact that Malamar's energy was being suppressed but it was still detectable, if barely. Still, it was enough for him to track and he bobbed up and down in the affirmative.

"Good, you stay here and relay the Malamar's location to us while I go alert the others. We have to chase that Pokémon down. It may still be able to undo whatever it did to Serena. I won't abandon her to being enthralled by that monster. Besides, my brother really likes her."

Chandelure bobbed up and down once more as he floated out over the cityscape to follow Malamar and make sure that he did not lose it while Leaf and Starmie retreated back into the hotel. She had a feeling that she would need her entire team to face down the Malamar when they encountered it in the city.

Meanwhile, back in the hotel, Ash and Serena had just finished watching a series of _Three Stooges_ episodes. Serena had howled with laughter throughout the entirety of the episodes.

"I can't believe I have never heard of these guys before," she had told Ash in between laughs.

"Well, they were from the twentieth century," Ash answered.

"They're hilarious," she exclaimed.

Ash smiled. He had not seen Serena so happy in a long time, though he had not seen her in quite a while, either. There was a sparkle in her eye that had not been present before. A surge of longing came over him and he was about to gather her into his arms to kiss her when what felt like a shock to his system came over him. He almost fell back into the bed but managed to catch himself. _What was that_? he wondered as he looked around. He then got up and went over to the balcony, looking out over the city, trying to see if whatever it was that had come over him was caused by something in the city. Serena, noticing that something was going on, rose and went over to Ash.

"Hey Ash, is everything okay?" she asked, looking at him with concern.

He turned back to Serena and canted his head, his expression still blank.

"Ash, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Her question eventually got through to him and he shook off whatever feeling had come over him. "Yeah, I'm fine," he told her, smiling and trying to sound reassuring. He wondered if she could tell that he was not certain if he really was fine or not. A feeling had come over him that he could not put into words and he did not know whether it was good or bad, but he had a feeling that it was better than worse, though he had no idea why he had that feeling.

If Serena had suspected that something was wrong, she did not press him any further and merely nodded. She then headed back inside, Ash following her. Once they were inside, Serena jumped onto the large bed, bouncing on the soft mattress a few times before she sat cross-legged and looked back at Ash, smiling sensuously. Ash canted his head, a confused expression crossing his face. He had no idea what Serena wanted, but he smiled kindly at her and gave a nervous laugh. It was obvious that that was not the reaction that she had wanted from him, for she gave him a quizzical look that soon turned into a frown.

"Ash, are you okay?" she asked in a more serious tone.

"Sure," Ash answered, much more sure of his answer this time. Indeed, for the first time in quite a while, he felt like himself.

"Then why did you stare at me blankly just now, and while we were on the balcony. Don't you want to come join me?"

"Uh, okay," the boy answered hesitantly. He made his way over to the large bed and sat on its edge, giving Serena a kind smile. Serena smiled back for a second, but soon noticed that Ash was doing nothing to voice his romantic desires and she gazed at him appraisingly. She neared him and sat next to him but his expression did not change. Why was he simply sitting there waiting for something? Ash noticed Serena's change in expression and he asked, "Is everything okay? Is there something I can get you?"

Serena then smiled and answered coyly, "Oh, I'm fine." She then leaned over and covered his mouth with her own. The kiss was entirely one-sided, for Ash was too stunned to respond. More importantly, he did not know how to respond, despite the fact that as she kissed him, his own memories of them kissing passionately a mere hour ago reentered his mind. This time, though, thoughts of risqué passion did not enter his mind, merely the terror of what would happen if they were discovered in this position, as well as the feeling that this was wrong. While he liked her, he did not feel ready to enter into a romantic relationship with her just yet.

She continued to kiss him for a few seconds before she realized that he was not responding as he had before. She abruptly pulled back and stared at Ash as he made the mistake of letting out a sigh of relief.

"What?" she blurted, noticing his sigh.

"Oh, nothing," Ash answered, realizing his mistake. For a fleeting moment, romantic urges and desires welled up inside of him but they dispersed with ease and he was more than able to keep himself under control.

"Yeah right," Serena answered, leaning over him, putting her hands on her hips. "You were relieved when I stopped kissing you, weren't you?"

Ash did not bother to deny it. "A bit," he admitted. He then heaved a deep sigh before explaining himself. "Serena, I've told you before that you're the most beautiful girl I've ever met. More importantly, you're the only girl I've ever had anything close to romantic feelings for. I also have not forgotten that less than an hour ago, we were kissing passionately and were this close to taking it to the next level." He pinched his fingers until they were almost touching. "That's not me; and I think you know that's not me."

"But Ash, it's been a year since we've seen each other," Serena interjected. "You could have changed since then. Given your recent behavior, I was almost certain you had."

"And so was I," Ash answered. "At least, until a few minutes ago." He sighed again. "Serena, the me that was kissing you was the out of character moment, not the one that's nervous about, and almost always oblivious to, romance."

"So, are you saying that you don't love me?" Her eyes began to seemingly tear up as she looked over at Ash, desire and longing etched onto her face.

"No!" Ash blurted, trying to comfort Serena, gathering her into his arms. "The truth is, I don't know exactly the type of love I _do_ feel for you. It may be, or become, romantic, but it also might not be. I just don't know exactly how I feel right now."

While Ash was doing his best to explain his feelings to Serena, he found his concentration being sorely tested by Serena kissing him all over his face and on the lips when he finished his sentence. "Then maybe I can help you with that," she answered seductively, smiling as she kissed him once more. For a moment, Ash considered pulling away, but soon he felt himself drifting back into mindless passion and he decided to let the feeling wash over him and he responded, returning Serena's kiss and holding her tight. They kissed for several more seconds before they both gently disengaged, both teens smiling at each other.

"Well, I guess I have your answer," Serena stated.

Ash gave a light chuckle. "I guess we do," he answered.

He was about to kiss her again when he heard the sounds of what sounded like battle echo outside the balcony. There were also several flashes of light and shadow, indicating that something was going on outside. At first he thought that it was a light show and paid no heed to it until a he saw flash of movement outside the balcony heading downwards, quickly followed by a thud with the sound of shattering glass accompanying it. Realizing that it was no light show, he immediately got up and rushed over to the balcony, wondering what had happened. Serena was almost in shock as Ash passed her in a blue of motion.

"What is it? Is everything okay?"

"That's what I'm gonna find out," the boy answered as he slid the door to the balcony open. Stepping out onto the balcony, he approached the railing and looked over it down at the ground. There, he saw the shattered remains of a Pokémon encased in ice blocks. He recoiled from the scene in disgust, despite the fact the ice prevented him from seeing any of the innards of the shattered Pokémon. He soon heard the sounds of Pokémon speak above him. For a moment, he thought that he recognized the voice but when he listened to it, he could not place it. Still, the voice sounded too familiar to him for it to be a coincidence. Behind him, Serena made her way out onto the balcony to see what was troubling her boyfriend.

"What is it Ash?" she asked him in a concerned tone. She had not seen him this serious since he had returned to Kalos.

"I don't know," he answered.

He was about to head back in so they could resume their romantic evening when a bright flash of light erupted above them. The flash did not affect them since they were below the flash's target, but it was bright enough for them to notice and Ash was suddenly on edge. He moved in front of Serena to shield her from anything that may have been coming, saying, "Get back inside."

Serena agreed and retreated back into the hotel room. Ash continued to look out over the cityscape when a blur of motion caught his eye above him. Looking up, he saw a Malamar floating above the hotel roof, firing off a Dark Pulse at an unknown target. The moment he saw the Malamar, all of the memories of his battles with the evil Malamar cult came to the forefront and his mouth hung open. Suddenly, it all made sense. All of his seemingly out of character behavior with Serena may have suddenly had an explanation. The Malamar cult may have been manipulating his feelings for her, and if not his feelings, then his desires.

He rushed back inside and quickly went to get on a fresh set of clothes. Serena saw the blur of activity and asked, "What is it? What was that outside?"

"I think it was a member of the Malamar cult we fought during my journey through Kalos," Ash answered.

"The Malamar cult?" Serena gasped. She remembered that she had been mind controlled into serving them before and a great deal of anxiety came over her. She dreaded that the Malamar may have been manipulating Ash's feelings towards her and that none of that had been real. Her dreams may well have been just that. She then shook off those dark thoughts and focused on the present. They had a job to do, for the Malamar cult was a very dangerous cult.

"So, what are we going to do?" she asked.

"I'm gonna go to the roof and take on that Malamar," Ash answered. "This is our chance to stop them, once and for all." His answer did not surprise Serena but she was still troubled.

"You alone?" she asked.

Ash looked back at her affectionately. Even if his lusts had been a result of Malamar manipulation, his feelings of friendship and even love were not. "Don't worry, I won't be goin' alone. I'll bring along Pikachu and the others."

"I'm coming too," Serena declared, heading over towards a closet so she could get a fresh set of clothes to change into.

"Wait," Ash cautioned. "This is the Malamar Cult we're likely dealing with. Besides, we can't afford for anyone to see you with me, especially in that." He then pointed to her Fennekin cosplay outfit. "Let me handle this. I'll be back in a flash."

"Okay," Serena eventually answered. She then laid back down onto the bed in a sensuous pose, giving a wink to Ash. "You better come back safe and sound, honey." She then gave a mirthful laugh.

"Don't worry," the boy assured her. "I'll be back before you know it." With that, he left the room to gather his Pokémon friends so they could take a look at what was going on on the roof.

Meanwhile, Leaf had run back to her hotel room as quickly as possible to alert the others to the Malamar and what they were doing to Ash and Serena, missing by seconds as she entered her room just as Ash had left his. Once she entered her room, she wasted no time explaining the situation to her team. "Two Malamars were up on the hotel roof using their hypnotic powers and psychic abilities to influence the minds of Ash and Serena. Chandelure, Starmie, and I engaged them once their influence was detected."

Tyranitar immediately gave a grunt of displeasure, not pleased about not being a part of the team fighting the Malamars. "Can it, Tyranitar," Leaf bellowed, the girl being in no mood for any backtalk. "Time was of the essence in this case." She then got back to explaining the situation. "We managed to take out one of the Malamars, the Pokémon being frozen and shattering on the ground below. The other one, however, managed to flee. Chandelure is currently tracking it but I'll need you in order to help me finish it off. There's no way they were working alone."

Tyranitar gave a roar of approval, being eager to enter into a battle. Leaf grinned. "Yes, Tee-Tar, once we engage the Malamar and any cohorts, you'll be among the leaders of the charge," she told him with mock resignation. The truth was that she would be all too happy to let the massively powerful Pokémon lead any assault against the Malamar and any allies it may have had. Still, at the moment, she needed her team to return so they could all come with her in a timely fashion.

She took out her Poké Balls and told her Pokémon, "Everyone except Garchomp and Starmie return. We can't afford for Garchomp to be bogged down having to carry the rest of us." She then turned to Starmie and gave the starfish-like Pokémon its directions. "Starmie, you make contact with Chandelure and relay his information to Garchomp and me. We need to get going this instant!"

Starmie bobbed up and down. Leaf then returned Venusaur, Tyranitar, and Jolteon to their Poké Balls. Once that was accomplished, Garchomp leaned forward so that Leaf could jump onto her back. Once Leaf had grabbed hold of the Land Shark Pokémon, the Pokémon ran forward and jumped off of the hotel room's balcony, spreading her arms out and flying through the air, Starmie following close behind, relaying the information it received from Chandelure.

Back inside, Ash's hotel room, Serena stood out on the balcony and looked out over the cityscape and saw Leaf rocketing off on her Garchomp into the city. She looked quizzically at the scene and a strange sensation came over her. Suddenly, her questions about whether or not she had chosen the right path for herself came to the forefront of her mind once more. She tried to shake off the feeling, remembering how she had won the Pokémon Showcase Master Class and become the Kalos Queen. She also thought about her burgeoning idol career, as well as her feelings for Ash, which were getting stronger and stronger by the second. A fleeting curiosity also came to mind that questioned just how strong those feelings really were, and also _what_ they really were, too. Ash's talk about his own feelings came to mind as well and she wondered what was happening. For the first time since choosing her path, she was wondering what her purpose was and if she had made the right decision. She struggled to shake off the feelings, even with the thoughts of her accomplishments coming to the surface to banish away any doubts. Still, those doubts seemed to remain.

"C'mon, get a hold of yourself, Serena," she admonished. "You've accomplished great things." Still, she could not help but think about the battle against Leaf, who massacred her and her friends four to nothing while losing no Pokémon. Even worse was the fact that Leaf was the same age as she was and also seemed to have feelings for Ash. She then steeled herself and went back inside, shaking off any dark feelings that she may have had and waited for Ash to return.

Meanwhile, the surviving Malamar weaved its way through the maze of buildings that was the downtown of Lumiose City, doing its best to suppress its energy, for while it was part Dark-type, its own psychic energy, which it had been using to move and was currently using to find its Trainer, Xerosic, was still able to be traced by Psychic-type Pokémon or Pokémon with Psychic. After weaving its way through several city blocks, it came upon its comrade that had been sent to deal with Calem and the Kalos Trio, as they had called Trevor, Shauna, and Tierno. The other Malamar was surprised to see its comrade rushing towards it at top speed and quickly realized that something was wrong.

[What's wrong? Why are you weaving your way through the city streets? Where is our other comrade?] the Malamar asked.

The fleeing Malamar answered, [A powerful Pokémon Trainer managed to find out what we were doing with Serena and her boyfriend. She is resistant to hypnosis and mind control and is also a tough and smart battler. She killed our brother during the battle, freezing him and then letting him fall to the pavement below to shatter.]

[Damn,] the first Malamar swore. [Did you get a name?]

The Malamar shook its head. [All I got was the codename of Leaf, and only because I recognized her from a flier earlier,] came the answer.

[Leaf?] the first Malamar queried, a look of dread coming over its face. It had heard of the famous Kanto Pokémon Trainer in passing, knowing that she was among the strongest Pokémon Trainers in the world. [If she has discovered what we are doing, then the entire plan is in jeopardy.]

[Fortunately, it seems as if her only interest at the moment is what was happening with Ash and Serena,] the fleeing Malamar responded. [If that's the case then there's still hope that she does not know of our plan. Still, we must make our report to Xerosic.]

[Agreed.]

With that, the two Malamars weaved through the city streets until they came to Bleu Plaza. In Bleu Plaza, they spotted the familiar form of Xerosic. The Team Flare Scientist turned and when he saw them, his looked at them curiously. He was only supposed to meet up with one of the Malamars, not two of them. He then went over to them and asked, "What are you two doing here? I only wished to see Malamar One."

[Master, we have a problem,] the Malamar that had fought Leaf began. [We were discovered by a Pokémon Trainer codenamed Leaf. Our brother was killed fighting her and two of her Pokémon with me barely getting away.]

Xerosic grimaced. He then looked over at the other Malamar and said, "I hope you have better news to report."

[I do, sir,] the Malamar said, nodding. [Calem and the Kalos Trio have successfully been eliminated. The threat they pose to our plans has been neutralized.]

"And this Leaf?"

[She's a Champion Trainer from Kanto,] the first Malamar answered. [If the flier we read is correct, she's the current World Pokémon League Champion. Even worse, she has connections to Ash Ketchum, Serena's boyfriend.]

"Ash is of no use to us," Xerosic stated plainly, viewing the boy as nothing more than a tool to keep Serena in check.

[Perhaps, but he is important to Leaf, and he is a hero. When our plan goes in motion, she will join him in the fight.]

"Then we will have to eliminate her threat," the scientist concluded. He then took out a cell phone in order to contact Malva so she could deal with Leaf.

Knowing what he was planning, the Malamar told him, [Malva won't be enough against Leaf. Even Lysandre with all of the Grunts, scientists and administrators would not likely be able to defeat her. I just barely managed to get away when she was more worried about Ash than simply killing me. She knows that something is up. We have to do something fast. She's likely right behind us.]

Xerosic considered what the Malamar had reported and what he should do. The other Malamar soon offered its own suggestion. [We should report to Lysandre at once. He may have a means by which we can deal with Leaf.]

Xerosic nodded in agreement. "Come with me," he told the two Pokémon. "It just so happens that Lysandre isn't far away."

The Malamars then followed Xerosic as he went southwest along a dark road. As they traveled along the dark road, they eventually came upon a tall man with thick red hair and a red beard. They instantly recognized the man as Lysandre.

"Lysandre, sir," Xerosic began. "It's actually most fortunate that you have come."

"I only see two Malamars with you," Lysandre stated plainly, not wasting any time with pleasantries. "Where is the third one?"

[He was killed in battle against a female Pokémon Trainer at the Hotel Richissime,] one of the Malamars answered. [He was frozen while hovering above the street and he fell upon being frozen and shattered. I barely managed to escape the fight alive.]

"That's unfortunate," Lysandre commented. "And what is going on with this girl at the moment?"

[She is likely chasing us,] the second Malamar answered.

"Can she track you?" came Lysandre's next question.

"I can't see how, given that they are part Dark-type Pokémon," Xerosic answered.

[Actually, she might be able to,] the first Malamar corrected. [She managed to track the psychic energy we were using to influence the minds of Ash Ketchum and Serena Gabena.]

"And what is the progress on the two of them?" Lysandre inquired. He had spent close to two years planning this operation. He could not afford to have it fall apart this close to completion.

[We were able to complete the operation with Serena. She is no longer who she was before we started influencing her and she is now completely infatuated with Ash as well as driven to become a world famous idol and Pokémon Performer. There is no way she will remember her previous dream,] the first Malamar reported. [However, my partner was killed by the female Trainer before the process could be completed with Ash.]

"Not bad," Lysandre said, half approvingly. "At least Serena's threat has been neutralized. And Ash?"

[He is nowhere close to what Serena would have become,] the first Malamar answered. [He's a second-rate Trainer. He will not defeat us.]

"Good," Lysandre answered.

The Team Flare Boss then nodded, causing the two Malamars and Xerosic to look at him quizzically. Then, three loud pops sounded and three holes were burned into the heads of Xerosic and the Malamars right between the eyes. The Pokémon and scientist did not even know what hit them, or even comprehended that they were under attack before they died. They simply collapsed onto the ground and did not move.

Stepping out from behind an alley was a Team Flare Administrator holding a smoking gun. The Administrator looked at Lysandre and bowed. "Good work," the Team Flare Boss told his subordinate. The Admin looked at Lysandre quizzically.

"May I ask why you had me kill the two Malamars _and_ Xerosic?" the Admin asked respectfully. "They could still have been of some use."

"They were compromised," Lysandre answered coolly. "If their report is accurate, then the girl's search will end with their demise. That will hopefully neutralize her threat until it is too late for her to affect the outcome of our mission."

"And if it is not?" the Admin inquired.

"Then we will have to find another way to deal with her that will not bring suspicion to our organization," Lysandre answered, being careful not to either speak or think the words 'Team Flare' on the off chance that someone were telepathically eavesdropping on them.

"I see," the Admin answered, understanding Lysandre's point of view but still questioning it. To him, the two Malamars could still have made effective cannon fodder if they were discovered and they were forced into a battle. Still, in the end, it did not matter.

"Gaston," Lysandre began, turning towards the Team Flare Admin.

"Sir," the Team Flare Admin said, bowing.

"Remain here and get a good look at the girl that defeated the two Malamars back at Hotel Richissime," the Team Flare Boss directed. "Once you do, report back to base immediately."

"Yes, sir," the Team Flare Admin answered.

Once they were ready, Lysandre departed the scene, leaving the Team Flare Admin to hide in a corner so he could identify the girl that had managed to fight and defeat two Malamars. As he hid, Gaston wondered just how two Malamars specially trained to be able to perform mind control better than any non-Legendary Pokémon could be beaten by a child.

Meanwhile, Leaf, Garchomp, and Starmie made their way down into the long city streets of Lumiose City in hot pursuit of the Malamar. Chandelure floated not too far behind the trio, doing his best to keep track of the Malamar. Soon, Chandelure managed to detect the presence of another Pokémon. He quickly relayed this information to Starmie and Leaf. Starmie immediately performed a telepathic scan on the second arrival and when it discovered that it could not read any mind, it immediately suspected that the new arrival was another Malamar, which it immediately relayed back to Leaf. Leaf gritted her teeth. It was back to two Malamars once again. This time, however, she had her full team with her. They would not escape a second time. This time, she would eliminate the threat they posed to Ash and Serena, by any means necessary.

"How far ahead are they?" she queried, looking back at Chandelure.

Chandelure closed his eyes for a moment before telepathically relaying that the two Malamars were not too far ahead, but were in a back alley. Leaf nodded and then turned to Garchomp. "Land here," she directed the Pokémon. "We'll go on foot from here. That way we're less likely to be noticed." Looking back at Starmie and Chandelure, she told them, "Keep to the skies and relay any changes back down to us."

They nodded and rose as Garchomp descended and landed inside of Bleu Plaza. When Garchomp landed, the girl dismounted and took out her Poké Ball. "Return Garchomp," she told the Pokémon. "Stealth will be key here. I can pass as a less than reputable individual if I go off in pursuit alone."

Garchomp nodded, seeing Leaf's wisdom and did not argue when Leaf returned her to her Poké Ball. Once that was finished, she put in an earwig and spoke, saying, "Okay Starmie, Chandelure, which way?"

The two Pokémon then directed the girl through the maze of back alley streets. She weaved her way through the back alleys and came across a number of less than reputable people who either leered at her or looked at her quizzically, viewing her as being too young to work the streets. If only they knew who and what she really was.

As she was weaving her way through the alleys, a sudden transmission came from Chandelure.

 _Mia, I've lost them_ , the chandelier-like Pokémon blurted.

 _I have, too_ , Starmie echoed.

"What?" Leaf blurted. "Are you sure?"

 _Positive_ , came the response from the two Pokémon.

Thoughts swirled throughout Leaf's mind. Perhaps the Pokémon had stopped using their psychic abilities and, thus, could no longer be sensed due to them being part Dark-type Pokémon. Still, they would need to use their psychic abilities in order to move with any alacrity, something that they would almost certainly want given the fact that they were being pursued by someone who wanted to interrogate them and had a strong team of Pokémon behind her. As such, if they decided to move slowly but cloak their presence from any psychic scan, they would have to keep their psychic powers suppressed, or else Starmie and Chandelure might be able to pick up their scanning attempt.

"Where was the signal when it went silent?" she asked.

Chandelure relayed the information to her. It appeared as if the Malamar she was chasing was not that far ahead. Wasting no time, she continued to make her way through the alleys, weaving her way through, following the path as Chandelure relayed it to her. After a series of turns, she finally came to the alley where the signal was lost.

When she entered that alley, she immediately found the bodies of the two Malamars and Xerosic lying on the ground. She rushed over to them and found that three neat holes were burned through their heads right between the eyes. It looked almost as if it had been done execution style. She grimaced at the scene. After a few moments, Starmie and Chandelure joined her at the scene, looking down at the two dead Malamars and Xerosic. They saw their Trainer frowning at the scene. She turned back to them and asked in an almost somber tone, "Did you sense anything coming from either of them when you lost the signal? Anything like a final transmission?"

Both Pokémon shook in the negative. Her face remained blank. Despite everything they had told her during the fight, she had suspected that someone was pulling the strings behind them. Their primary goal had appeared to be Serena, with Ash merely being a secondary objective, and only because he had come back to Kalos. She then thought about Ash and Serena. They seemed to be deeply in love with each other, even though they were both only fourteen years old. Leaf had experienced crushes before, but nothing like what Ash was feeling for Serena, or seemed to feel. After all, chances were that the Malamar had been influencing him to like Serena in order to keep her focused on him, rather than becoming a hero. She then thought back to when the Malamar had told her that they had already changed Serena from what she originally supposed to be, having her become a Pokémon Performer and idol. With the three Malamars dead, there was a chance that Serena had returned to normal, whatever normal was for her. She took out the datapad about the heroes of Earth that she had received two years ago and saw Serena's face on it. She was certain that Serena had a special destiny and if the Malamars were no longer around to influence her, then there was a chance that she could finally get on the path towards fulfilling it.

With that hopeful thought, she took out her cell phone. Despite being a tourist, she still had a civic duty to report what had happened. She then dialed the police and reported the finding of the dead Malamars. She did not look forward to having to give a statement to the police given her feelings for the Malamars.

Meanwhile, on a rooftop not too far away, Lysandre and his Admin looked through a computer screen at the scene. They had a remote camera floating over the alley so as to keep an eye out for whoever had been pursuing the Malamars. When they saw Leaf enter the alley, the Admin had the camera focus on her. Once they got a good look at her, the Admin set the camera on autopilot and had it fly a holding pattern over the alley, keeping all of its speakers on so that it could pick up anything that was being said.

After setting up the camera, the two focused on the picture of Leaf and the Admin ran it through a facial recognition program to see if it matched either any criminal or anyone famous who may have been a potential threat to Team Flare. It took a few seconds for it to get a match. When it did, the two read the information, the face of Gaston becoming increasingly ashen as he continued to read. Lysandre, however, seemed to take it all in stride.

"Oh no," Gaston said in an ominous tone. "Why'd it have to be her?" He had heard of Leaf and her myriad of accomplishments.

"So, we neutralize one threat only to be met by an even greater one," Lysandre noted coolly.

Gaston could not understand how Lysandre was so calm. "But sir, she's the most powerful Pokémon Trainer in the world," he told his boss.

"Then we won't deal with her by means of battle," Lysandre answered. "There are many ways of dealing with a threat. Not all of them involve battling the threat head on."

"So, what do we do?" the Admin blurted. "How will we deal with _this_ threat?"

"For now, we wait," Lysandre answered coolly. "The answer will come to us soon enough if we are patient." He then looked at the dossier that appeared on the screen below Leaf's picture. He quickly noticed a couple of things that stood out and he grinned. "And it seems as if the answer has just come to us," he said in an ominous tone.

He then pulled out his phone and dialed a number. After a few rings the voice of Malva sounded over the phone. "Hello, what is it?"

"Malva, this is Flame One."

"Oh," Malva answered in a flustered voice. "Things are busy here. I'm doing everything in my power to keep the events at the Pokémon League from becoming common knowledge until we're ready."

"Don't worry about that," Lysandre directed. "I have a new assignment for you."

"What is it?"

"I think it's time for the report about the Mortality Trees growing all around the world to become headline news."

He could almost hear Malva's gasp, as well as Gaston's. "The Mortality Trees?" both Malva and Gaston said, word for word.

"Yes," Lysandre answered.

"But sir, if we alert the world to the Mortality Trees, it could allow for heroes and/or Champions to either slow them down or destroy them," Malva contested.

"Their loss will be a necessary loss," Lysandre explained. "We always knew that it would come to one plan or the other. We will merely have to go with Plan A now. The Ultimate Weapon will be our play. That will be the best chance for us to accomplish our objectives."

Malva hesitated to give a response, but after a few moments of silence, she eventually answered, "Understood, sir."

"Good," Lysandre stated. With that, Lysandre hung up the phone and grinned. Soon, Leaf would be out of his hair permanently. All he had to do was make sure that she did as he expected and headed to her home region of Kanto in order to investigate the tree when the report came over the news. That would leave only Ash, Serena, as well as a few others to deal with Team Flare in Geosenge Town. And he knew that with the Key Stones and Mega Stones, he and his subordinates could Mega Evolve their Pokémon in order to fight anyone that tried enter into combat against his forces. His subordinate, Gaston, was not convinced.

"Sir, are you sure you want to offer up the Mortality Trees as a sacrifice?" the Admin asked.

"We have little choice right now," Lysandre answered. "Leaf is the most dangerous opponent that we could ever face. Still, if all goes well, we won't have to offer up the trees since the report will only be made in Kalos, in Lumiose City, no less, though she won't know that." He then pushed a series of buttons and there was a whooshing sound made on the computer.

"What was that?" Gaston asked.

"Our insurance policy to ensure that Leaf is destroyed," Lysandre answered with a sinister grin.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Meanwhile, back at Hotel Richissime, it did not take too long for Ash to return to his room after examining the roof. When he had gone up to the roof, he had seen clear signs that a battle had taken place, for there were scorch marks, burns, and even some ice shards and cold water that was almost certainly melted ice, but there was no sign of the Malamar or anyone who may have been fighting it. Ash had looked over the edge and saw the shattered remains of the Malamar on the sidewalk below. He was surprised that the police had not yet showed up to examine the scene. He had not even heard any sirens to indicate their imminent arrival, either. Still, there was a sense of relief at seeing the shattered Malamar on the ground below, as well as knowing that a battle had taken place up on this roof, something that surprised him upon thinking about it. He soon cast away the feeling of surprise and let the relief flow through him. A huge weight seemed to have been lifted off of him and he felt more chipper than he had in quite a while. Seeing no further reason to remain on the roof, he retraced his steps back into the hotel and made his way back to his room.

When he reached his room, he let out his Pokémon so they could return to their suite to enjoy the evening with each other. Pikachu jumped down from his shoulder and joined the other Pokémon, knowing that Ash wanted to spend the night with Serena alone. Pikachu suspected that he knew exactly what Ash and Serena would do. Little did he know, though, that the deaths of the Malamars had freed Ash from their influence and that his plans for the evening were a little different than before, and almost certainly different than Serena's.

He entered his hotel room and found Serena lying on the bed, looking up at him, smiling seductively. "You're back," she said in a seductive tone. "So, did you find anything up there?"

"Nothing I didn't already know," Ash answered casually. "There most certainly was a battle up there, and one of the Malamar was, indeed, frozen and shattered, but other than that, I don't know exactly what happened. All I do know is that a huge weight seems to have been lifted off of my mind."

"What sort of weight was that?" Serena asked curiously, her seductive tone vanishing.

Ash thought about his answer for a moment before giving it. "I don't know if I can put it into words, exactly. It's just that I finally feel like myself once more, like the way I was during my travels in the Sinnoh Region."

His answer caused Serena to grow concerned. He had not spoken all that much about his previous travels but he had spoken of them in passing, occasionally mentioning their names, as well as the names of friends. He had grown particularly close to three friends of his during his journey: Misty, Brock, and Dawn. Two of them had been girls, causing a noticeable amount of concern for Serena. Ash had just come back into her life in ways that she could only have dreamed of, no, not even really have dreamed of. He was reciprocating her feelings towards him. She could not bear the thought of losing him a second time, or for him to turn into someone else entirely. She had crushed on, and grown to love, _this_ Ash, not one who was going through Kanto, Johto, or Sinnoh. She was greatly relieved and hopeful when she saw Ash turn to her and smile.

"So, whadaya wanna do Serena? It's not too late so we could go somewhere if you'd like," he offered.

"Actually, is it okay if we just sit around, listening to music and dancing? Just being with you is good enough for me."

"Uh, sure," Ash answered, not immediately knowing what to make of Serena's offer. While he did remember kissing her earlier, how could he ever forget something like that, ever since seeing the Malamar had shattered, things seemed to change a bit. He was worried that he had gone too quickly with Serena and while he had been in ecstasy when he kissed her, he could not shake the feeling that there was something artificial about it. He was only fourteen. He had never once thought about romance and sex until he had come back to Kalos, even though he had viewed Serena as both pretty and nice. Still, he liked her suggestion and decided to indulge her. He could see no harm in dancing with her.

Serena grinned at Ash's answer as she went over to a closet that housed a device that looked like and old turntable for records. The difference here was the fact that the turntable appearance was merely for aesthetics. It was a player that housed recorded music from past centuries all compiled into one storage drive.

"So, what type of music do you want to listen to?" Serena asked.

"You choose," Ash answered. He could go with anything at the moment.

"How's some Jazz sound?" Serena suggested. "Maybe we could also have some Swing."

"Fine with me," came Ash's answer.

Serena then selected a Jazz album titled _Nightwatch_. Once she selected the album, she pressed play and the first song began to play. The moment the song began to play, she began to dance, gliding over the floor, and over to Ash, grabbing his arms in one fluid motion. Once she had hold of him, they danced, Ash showing that he was not nearly as talented as she was at this. She knew of his shortcomings when it came to dancing, though, having tried to, and failed, to teach him dance moves for a battle against Korrina during his journey through Kalos. Still, Ash looked to have improved since she had last seen him dance. She smiled. Perhaps he had practiced a bit since his last outing. As the song continued, the two continued to dance, enjoying each other's company and the movement of the dance.

Meanwhile, over at the Lumiose City Police Station, Leaf was giving her statement to the police. They had obviously been suspicious when she told them the circumstances of the battle against the two Malamars on the roof of Hotel Richissime, but they had not found any weapons on her other than her Pokémon, of which only two had participated in the battle. Once she had finished making her statement and answering the officers' questions, they let her go.

As Leaf exited the police station, she made her way down the street to try and hail a cab so she could get back to the hotel. She checked the time and saw that it was already eight thirty P.M., causing her to cringe. She wanted to get back to the hotel and talk to Ash to make certain that he was okay and no longer being influenced by the Malamars.

As she was making her way to a stop, she heard a helicopter approaching. She thought nothing of it at first until both Starmie and Chandelure popped out of their Poké Balls and telepathically warned her that the helicopter was armed and that it was coming for her. She turned and looked up, seeing the helicopter approaching, easily identifying the weapons mounts on the wingtips of the dark gray flying machine of death. Unfortunately, the helicopter had managed to spot her before she could mount a defense and it immediately opened fire on the girl, the gun spewing hot lead her way as the rocket pods unleashed their torrent of death, explosions from the rockets gouging large holes in the street, making it all but impassable for non-hover based motor vehicles.

Leaf dodged to the side, out of the line of fire and explosions, trying to find an unoccupied building where she could hide and launch her counterattack. She looked over at Starmie and Chandelure, who had safely dove to the other side of the street, separate from her but able to launch attacks of their own if needed. From what she could tell, they were unhurt but she needed to be sure.

"You guys okay?"

Both Pokémon bobbed up and down in the affirmative.

"Can you take that thing down without risking the lives of anyone below?" was her next question.

The Pokémon looked up at the helicopter as it had stopped several hundred yards away to turn back towards them to make another attack run. Leaf scanned the streets and saw that it was now a jagged mess of holes and rocky debris, with the few people that had been out on the streets now scrambling for cover, praying that they did not get skewered by shrapnel or hit by an errant bullet or energy pulse. Good, Leaf thought. That would make it less likely that the helicopter's crash would injure anyone, but she did not want to take any chances. She then looked back at the Pokémon, asking the question a second time. They shook their heads, relaying to her that they would need to use their full psychic powers to ensure that there was no damage done to the streets when the helicopter was taken down. She grimaced for a second. She would need a third Pokémon. Fortunately, she had just the Pokémon needed to take out the helicopter.

Taking out Venusaur's Poké Ball and opening it, letting out her Pokémon. Venusaur landed and she told him the situation. "Venusaur, that helicopter is attacking us and probably doesn't care about the collateral damage it'll inflict," she cried. "You need to take it out before it makes its next attack run."

Venusaur acknowledged the order and nodded. He then stepped out onto the street and saw the helicopter coming towards them, the aircraft spewing more lead at them, this time the bullets being joined by a series of missiles. Starmie and Chandelure managed to use Psychic to deactivate the missiles, causing them to fall harmlessly out of the sky to the ground. Venusaur then drew a bead on the aircraft and fired off a single Energy Ball. The green ball formed in front of the Pokémon's mouth and was propelled straight at the helicopter's center of mass. Using Psychic, both Starmie and Chandelure kept the helicopter immobile while Venusaur's Energy Ball collided with the helicopter in the cockpit, the ball piercing the cockpit and fuel tank, causing it to explode in midair. Starmie and Chandelure used their telekinesis to keep the metal debris from raining down upon the people below, the two lowering the flaming wreck to the center of the street, where not a single soul was present.

Once they lowered the wreck to the center of the street, Starmie and Chandelure used Hydro Pump and Psychic to extinguish the flames, the part Ghost-type Chandelure using Psychic to smother the flames. It did not take long for the flames to be extinguished. Once they were out, Leaf and Venusaur went over to her Pokémon and checked to make sure that nothing had happened to them. Just as she had expected, they were fine, if a little tired from having to keep the helicopter suspended in the air and prevent the debris from raining down on anyone. She got out their Poké Balls and returned them to the balls, saying, "You guys did great. Take a good rest. I'll get you back to the hotel room and order some room service for you." She then returned Venusaur to his Poké Ball as well, telling him, "You were awesome too. Great shot with that Energy Ball."

As she made her way past the fallen helicopter, she peered into the wrecked cockpit and saw that the pilot and gunner looked to be wearing orange jackets and pants. They also appeared to have orange hair. Blood covered their faces and one of them looked to have his neck bent at an unnatural angle, indicating that he was dead. She could not help but notice that their uniforms greatly resembled the uniform of the man that had died along with the Malamar. Perhaps they had been seeking revenge on her for the death of their boss and the Malamar, but that made little sense since she had not been the one to kill them. Either way, she wanted to be as far away from the scene as possible, for if whoever wanted her dead had more forces coming, they would likely spot her unless she was either far away or hiding.

Keeping to the shadows, she made her way to the Lumi Cab service stop to hail a cab. Fortunately, she did not have to wait, for a cab was pulling up to the stop right as she arrived. When she saw the cab, she rushed over to it as fast as she could, waving at the cab, crying, "Wait!"

The cab remained stationary and lowered its window. The driver, a male with a bushy brown beard wearing a cap, said, "Where to?"

"Hotel Richissime, Leaf answered.

"Hop on in," the driver said.

Leaf then opened the left rear door to the cab and immediately got in. After the door closed, the cab made its way to the hotel.

Back at the hotel, Ash and Serena were dancing to a Swing piece. The two glided across the floor, smiling at each other as they danced, their moves crisp and flowing. Ash was dancing far better than he had during his first lesson with Serena almost two years ago. When the song ended, the two stopped and sat back on the bed, the album having finished. As they sat on the bed, they gazed into each other's eyes, smiling.

"So, what do you want to do next?" Serena asked Ash.

"I dunno," Ash answered. "It's still far too early to turn in."

"We could take a walk around town," Serena suggested. "There may be some exciting nightlife that we could indulge in."

Ash smiled. "Sounds like a plan."

"Let me go change. I don't want to go out in this," Serena said, chuckling. Ash gave a soft laugh alongside her. She then went into the bathroom to change back into her casual outfit.

After a few minutes, she emerged from the bathroom, fully changed back into her normal causal outfit. She then went over to Ash and offered him her hand, which he took.

"So, ready to go?" he asked jovially.

"Sure," she said, nodding.

Ash then smiled as he took his card key and exited the room, peering down each hallway to make sure that no one was present so that Serena could leave the hotel room undetected. When he saw that the coast was clear, he motioned for Serena to join him. She followed him out the door and down the hallway as they made their way out of the hotel and out onto the streets so they could enjoy Lumiose City's nightlife, or at least take a second tour of the city.

Just outside the hotel, a taxicab pulled up to the hotel. The taxi driver looked through his mirror back at Leaf and told her, "We're here at Hotel Richissime. That'll be two thousand Poké Dollars."

She handed the fare over to the driver, leaving a tip for him as well, and then stepped out of the cab and hurried towards the hotel. However, she stopped before entering and looked up at the upper floor of the hotel. Her gaze narrowed on a certain balcony and she stared at it intensely, almost as if she were trying to telepathically scan the balcony. She looked at the balcony quizzically as she had a feeling that no one was home. Still, she decided to go up and check on the hotel room in the first place. Besides, she wanted to give her own Pokémon a chance to rest and relax as well, especially after the recent events that had unfolded. She made her way to the elevator and rode it to the top floor.

When she heard loud noise and music coming from one of the rooms. She went over to Ash's room and knocked on the door. She waited for a few moments for an answer. With no answer forthcoming, she placed her ear next to the door to try to hear any activity that may have been going on on the other side of the door. Again, she heard nothing, though the loud music seemed to have gotten a little bit louder, but it did not sound like it was coming from Ash's room. She then took out Starmie's Poké Ball and opened it, letting out the starfish-like Pokémon.

When the Pokémon landed, Leaf directed, "Starmie, scan Ash's room. I need to know if he's in there."

Starmie bobbed up and down and then went about telepathically scanning the room for Ash's presence. Not surprisingly, it found no trace of Ash. It then looked back at Leaf and shook itself in the negative. Leaf sighed but was not ready to give up. "Scan the whole floor. Maybe he's with his Pokémon friends."

Starmie bobbed up and down once more and scanned the entire floor, hoping to find some sign of Ash's presence. It could tell that Ash's well-being was of vital interest to Leaf. It had never seen her like this before. Its scan was soon complete and it had found no trace of Ash's presence, which it relayed to Leaf.

Leaf gave a soft grumble and a look of concern crossed her face. Starmie looked at Leaf, a puzzled feeling coming over it. It could not understand why Leaf was so concerned about Ash at this point in time. If what the Malamars had said was true, then anything that was done to Ash was undone when the first Malamar had died. In addition, Ash had gone through a ton of adventures, more than a few of them being quite dangerous, and still managed to emerge alive and well. What was it about this time that troubled Leaf so greatly?

"Well, there's no point in staying out here in the open," the girl concluded with a sigh. "Let's head back into our room and turn in for the night."

Starmie had no issues with that and eagerly followed Leaf as she went over to her room and slid her card key into the slot. When the light turned green, she turned the knob and pushed the door open. When she entered the room, she immediately turned the lights on and let out all of her Pokémon friends. When they emerged from their balls, they looked over at her and saw that she still had a disconcerted look over her face. Both Venusaur and Tyranitar went over to her and asked her what was wrong.

She looked at both Pokémon and answered, "A lot of things. First of all, one of the Malamars that were influencing the minds of Ash and his friend were found dead in an alley, along with a second Malamar and a man. Later, we were attacked by a helicopter and I caught a glimpse of the pilot and gunner after we took it down. They wore the same style of uniform as the dead man in the alley with the Malamars."

Tyranitar then asked another question that Leaf took to mean, _Well if that man's their boss and he's dead, along with the helicopter crew, doesn't that mean that the threat is neutralized_?

"Not necessarily," Leaf answered. "There's still the possibility that more of those guys may still be out there. Those uniforms weren't Watchmen or Team Rocket uniforms so it's likely that they're exclusive to Kalos. If they find out about my connection to Ash…" she let the last part unsaid.

"Saur, Ve- _nu_ -saur," Venusaur declared, quickly being joined by the rest of her team. She knew that Venusaur had just said that he, and the rest of the team, would destroy anyone that went after Leaf's friends or family.

"Thanks guys," Leaf told them, hugging each of the Pokémon.

She then went over to the bed, a Queen sized bed with a thankfully firm mattress that she would not drown in when she went to bed tonight. She went over to the nightstand next to the bed and picked up the remote and turned the television on, the TV being set to a news channel. She decided to keep it on the news channel for a second to see if anything interesting was happening, as well as if there was any further report on the helicopter that had attacked her.

The moment she did so, she saw the face of a reporter on the scene, with _SPECIAL REPORT: STRANGE TREES REPORTED GROWING ALL OVER THE WORLD_. Below it, _Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova find strange massive trees growing in their regions_. At first she thought little of the story but when she flipped to another station and found the same story, she decided to take a look. One of the anchors of the news was already talking to a reporter. She was puzzled, for she recognized the reporter as being Gabby from the Hoenn Region. She looked to be standing close to the familiar scene of Viridian Forest.

"This is Gabby, reporting live from just outside of Kanto's Viridian Forest. Even the Kanto Region has not escaped the grip of these new massive trees that have been growing for the past week around the world. I talked to Professor Oak, as well as Gary Oak, and they are as puzzled about the appearance of these new trees as everyone else is. Even Cynthia, the Sinnoh League Champion, and a researcher of mythology from various regions, has never heard of these types of trees before. In addition, the current Viridian City Gym Leader, Gary Oak, has told me that he has used a number of Psychic-type Pokémon to try to scan the tree and discover what is going on with it, but they were unable to detect anything at all, with Gary saying, and I quote, 'It's almost as if the tree, itself, was a form of Dark-type Pokémon. My Pokémon could detect absolutely nothing from it.'

"Numerous other Trainers report the same thing happening with the trees in the other regions as well. Several science groups and professors are studying the trees, or trying to, but this is being complicated by the fact that the trees now seem to be draining the life out of the ground around them. Reports indicate several Trainers ran close to the trees, only to feel a tingly sensation that is almost immediately followed by lethargy. They have said that had they not retreated, that they may very well have died there."

"Does anyone have any idea if there has been anything like these trees before, only in different forms, like Pokémon?" the news anchor asked.

"No," Gabby answered, shaking her head. "As I stated before, Gary Oak did say that its inability to be detected psychically is similar to a Dark-type Pokémon's but it has not given any indications that it is any known Pokémon, though Professor Birch did admit that there are a large number of unknown Pokémon that may come from other regions and are being kept secret."

"Is there any possibility that these trees could be related to the Space Pirates?"

Leaf already had a feeling that the answer was no, which was confirmed when Gabby answered, "Unlikely. From the few scans that have been detected, the alkaloid levels detected in the trees are at normal levels for trees of that size and the environment had alkaloid levels that were within normal parameters for that area."

Leaf looked closely at the scene as the anchor and Gabby discussed possible scenarios as to how the trees had arrived. Gabby reported that the trees had appeared to be normal until a week ago, where they grew to monstrous proportions, to the point where it seemed like small villages could fit inside of them. As she gazed at the scene, she noticed the fleeting appearance of a person in an orange jacket enter into the picture before quickly retreating. Her eyes flashed as she realized that the person wore the same uniform as the people in the helicopter that had tried to kill her. So the organization that that man and the fallen Malamars had belonged to was in Kanto as well.

She continued to watch the news when the television suddenly went blank for a couple of seconds without warning. The image then switched to a Pokémon Showcase performance, causing Leaf's eyes to go wide with shock, since she recognized it as being a performance from over a year ago, for she saw Serena performing with her Delphox. This was the Pokémon Showcase Master Class. She flipped to another channel and found that it was showcasing a Gym Battle between a boy with green hair and Clemont, the Lumiose City Gym Leader. She doubted that this was live, either.

She turned off the television, knowing what she had to do. As Champion of the Kanto League, as well as the World Pokémon League, she had a job to do. She had to be on the front lines of this new battle. And it appeared as if it was being fought where these trees were located. She had a sneaky suspicion that these trees were the real threat and that she would do little good in Kalos at the moment. Talking to Ash would have to wait. She had to get back to Kanto to find out more about those trees. But first, she needed to make a phone call.

She took out her cell phone and dialed a number. After a couple of rings, she eventually got a response. "Hey, it's me, Leaf. If you've seen the news, you'll know that something strange is going on in Kanto, as well as around the world."

She waited for a moment as the person on the other end of the line gave her an answer. That person's answer caused her eyes to go wide. "What? They're appearing in America, Russia, as well as in South America?" She waited for another answer and then said, "Well I'm headed to Kanto since I have a feeling that whoever's behind this seems to be there. I may need some help, too." There was a pause before she continued, "You'll be there too? Great. I'm heading to the airport ASAP. I'll try to get a supersonic flight to Kanto but if I can't, you're the only shot Kanto may have if worst comes to worst." There was a single response before Leaf said, "Thanks again. I knew I could count on you."

She then hung up the phone and immediately turned back to her Pokémon team and told them, "Guys, I'm going to have to ask you to go back into your Poké Balls when I'm done packing. There's a threat in Kanto and we're one of the few beings that can stop it."

Tyranitar then growled a question that the Pokédex translator translated as, "What about Ash and what if the threat is actually in Kalos?"

"I saw someone on the news that wore the same uniform as the helicopter pilot. I'll talk to my contacts on the way over to the airport, but if they come up with nothing, then we're the only ones who may know of this threat. Either way, Kanto's in trouble and I won't be stuck here while it's in danger. Ash'll have to wait. We'll come back once the threat in Kanto, and the rest of the world, is neutralized."

Chandelure cocked its body and then relayed to Leaf, _Perhaps there's someone else who may know something about this_ , he suggested.

That got Leaf's attention and she turned to ask, "Who?"

 _Professor Sycamore,_ came Chandelure's answer. _He's the Pokémon Professor here and he will likely be familiar with the criminal organizations here, as well as their goals. The fact that the man on the television screen has the same uniform as the helicopter pilot as well as the dead man in the alley is not likely a coincidence._

Chandelure was right. There was little chance of the two not being related in some fashion. "Do you know where this Professor Sycamore's lab is located?" she asked. "He'll likely be there."

 _It's in the dead south of Lumiose City_ , Chandelure answered.

"Then we'll talk to him. But I'd rather do it over the phone for now."

Chandelure nodded in agreement. She then went to the hotel's phone and a phonebook and searched for Professor Sycamore's number. Once she found it, she dialed the number. The phone on the other end of the line rang a few times before someone picked up. The masculine voice of Professor Sycamore soon sounded, asking, "Hello, who is this?"

"Hello, Professor, my name is Asuka Makinami. I was calling you because I wanted to report that I saw several people wearing orange uniforms, one of them attacking me earlier tonight."

"Orange uniforms?" the professor asked.

"Yes. They attacked me with an attack but my Pokémon friends and I were able to fight off the attack. I have heard reports appear on the news about special trees that seem to drain life. During the report, I saw one of these men appear in the background. The problem is that this took place in Kanto. I was wondering if you knew who these men were and what organization they belonged to."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a few moments. Eventually, the Sycamore answered, "Yes, I have heard of these men before. I don't want to say anymore over the phone for fear that they may be tapping into the line. Come to my lab. It is located off of South Boulevard across from the end of Vernal Avenue in the southernmost part of the city."

"Thanks, Professor, I'll be right there."

Leaf then hung up the phone and went to work packing her bags. Truth be told, she had an uneasy feeling about what was happening. She would make her decision on whether or not to leave Kalos after meeting the professor. Thinking about it, she had an uneasy feeling about this meeting as well. While he had refereed her battle against Ash and his friends, she still had a bad feeling about going to meet him in his lab. Still, she could not shake the feeling that there was a significant threat to the world in Kalos, as well as Kanto. There was the cutting off of the world news, only to replace it with trivial programs. She did not like where all of this was leading. There was an enemy in both Kanto and Kalos. That enemy had tried to kill her earlier this night. If worst came to worst, though, she would go back to Kanto. Kalos currently had Ash to protect it. Given his record, she had faith that Ash and his friends could deal with whatever threat was either coming to, or already in, Kalos, especially since the Malamars were now dead. Still, she hoped that it would not come to that.

It did not take long for her to pack her bags, for she had traveled relatively light. Once she was packed, she took out her Poké Balls and returned her Pokémon to them. While she did not like confining her Pokémon friends to their Poké Balls, the hotel had expressed concerns about her Pokémon being outside of their balls due to their size. Besides, she wanted to reach Professor Sycamore's lab as quickly as possible, which meant traveling by means of a cab. Once everything was ready, she got her card key to turn into the receptionist at the front desk and departed her room. However, her departure and her reason for leaving had not gone unnoticed.

Down at the security desk, a security officer dressed in a suit with an orange undershirt watched a video feed from Room 504. He had seen Leaf talking with someone on the phone. He turned up the audio so he could hear what the girl was saying. Once he could hear her clearly, he intently listened to everything that she was saying. If only he could hear what was being said on the other end of the line. Still, just what Leaf was saying was enough to greatly concern him. The moment she left her room, he went over his desk and took out a private phone. He dialed a number and waited for a ringtone. Eventually, there was an answer.

"Hello, this is the Lumiose News Agency. How may I help you?" a female voice asked on the other end of the line.

"I need to speak with Malva immediately," the security officer answered gruffly.

"She's busy at the moment, may I take a message?"

"She'll want this call. Tell her it's urgent."

"Understood, sir," the voice answered.

The security officer waited several minutes before he eventually got an answer. "Who is this and what do you want?" came the annoyed voice of Malva.

"We've got a problem," the hotel security officer answered. "Leaf's still alive and she knows about the Mortality Trees all around the world."

"So what?" Malva scoffed. "She'd need to affect all of the trees in order to stop them."

"This is Leaf we're talking about!" the hotel security officer retorted. "Leaf, the World Pokémon League Champion! If anyone can do this, she can!"

"And what would you have me do?" Malva inquired.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe battle her and kill her?"

"You do know that Leaf is the strongest Pokémon Trainer in the world, don't you?" Malva retorted. "I'm no match for her."

"Then maybe you could shoot her like a coward from fifty yards away," the hotel 'security officer' suggested.

"I have a job here," Malva roared in retort. "This is not my problem. Take it up with the boss if you're so worried about this girl!" With that, the line went dark.

"You fool," the hotel 'security officer' seethed. "If she somehow manages to kill the Mortality Trees, it's on you."

He then hung up the phone and picked it up again. This time, he dialed a different number. After a couple of rings, a calm voice sounded over the phone. "What is it?"

"Sir, I have come to inform you that Leaf is still alive. That helicopter crew failed. She's checking out of the hotel and Malva's refusing to engage her."

"A wise precaution, considering who it is you want her to fight," Lysandre stated plainly.

"But sir, she knows about the Mortality Trees," the security officer told the Team Flare boss desperately. "She managed to spot a report on the news before Malva and her subordinates cut off the signal and replaced it with Gym Battle and Pokémon Showcase reruns. If anyone can actually destroy them, it's _her_."

"Don't worry about her. I have ways of dealing with her."

"But sir, she's going to talk to Professor Sycamore! He knows all of the secrets about Team Flare! If she talks to him, she'll undoubtedly turn her attention towards us while warning the rest of the Pokémon Leagues about the Mortality Trees."

"You don't have to worry about her. You have done your job well, better than I ever would have expected. Now all that remains is for you to join me in Geosenge Town."

"But sir…"

"Leave Leaf to me. An unexpected door has opened for us. You do as ordered and join me in Geosenge Town."

"When do you want me to leave?"

"Right now," Lysandre answered.

"Understood," he hotel 'security officer', now Team Flare grunt answered. After hanging up the phone, he immediately left his post and headed for Geosenge Town. The time was coming. Tonight, Team Flare would claim its final victory, or die trying. However, even if they did die, they would be avenged by the Mortality Trees.

Meanwhile, onboard a helicopter, Lysandre had listened as his subordinate had reported to him about Leaf and her hearing about the Mortality Trees. Sitting next to him was a female Team Flare Admin with long orange hair. He gave a sigh as the subordinate that had infiltrated Hotel Richissime made his report.

"What is it, sir?" the Admin asked.

"Leaf has been revealed to have survived her assassination attempt and is now headed to Professor Sycamore's lab in order to meet him," Lysandre answered plainly. "She knows about the Mortality Trees. Even worse, she spotted one of our own in Kanto."

"Well, we can just pull them out," the Admin suggested. She figured that if no one were present, that Leaf would not think much of the large trees.

"But that does nothing to Leaf," Lysandre countered. "Still, there is still a chance." He then dialed another number. He waited a few moments before there was an answer. "This is Flare Three. What do you need Boss?"

"There is a girl with black hair, blue eyes, wearing a sky blue tank top and red miniskirt headed towards Professor Sycamore's lab. This is the same girl that shot down the helicopter that destroyed the Pokémon League Headquarters and killed Diantha and the Elite Four before trying to and failing to kill Leaf."

"You want me to take her out?" Flare Three asked in a menacing tone.

"No, I want you to don an Expansion Suit and disguise yourself as an assistant to Professor Sycamore. Both Sina and Dexio are already out in the field. Disguise yourself as one of them and report to Professor Sycamore that the person coming to meet him is a criminal."

"Is she?"

Lysandre grinned. "That depends on who you ask," the Team Flare Boss answered. "Just make the report. There's a file under the Kanto Pokémon League case reports that indicates that a mysterious girl was bilking Team Rocket agents and sympathizers out of money. All evidence points to the culprit being Leaf. Just manufacture some evidence that identifies her as the culprit. Professor Oak already views her as a thief for stealing Bulbasaur when she began her journey. You make her look like a criminal."

"Understood sir," the Team Flare grunt answered. There was a pause as Lysandre noticed that the line was not dead, and soon, the grunt asked, "Sir, wouldn't it be better if I killed her along the way?"

"We don't know the car she's taking and you'd never be able to set up a sniper's nest close enough to the lab without being detected. In addition, she has Psychic-type Pokémon with her. Hostile intent will be detected. Merely inform the professor of her criminal record and 'outstanding warrant'. The rest will fall in place."

"Yes sir," the grunt answered. He then hung up the phone.

After the line was cut off, Lysandre grinned. He then fished into his pocket and took out a little black book. In it were the names and quick contact information for all sorts of criminal underworld personnel and leaders. He quickly identified three particular people who would be very interested in Leaf's plans and would be chomping at the bit to get a chance to permanently neutralize the greatest threat to Team Rocket they had ever faced. He then found the contact number for the trio that he wished to contact to tell them how they could please their boss in ways that he never imagined and how they could get a promotion to Executives. He then sat back and enjoyed the ride as his helicopter took him to Team Flare Headquarters in Geosenge Town.

Back in Lumiose City, the taxicab carrying Leaf quickly arrived at Professor Sycamore's lab. When it arrived, Leaf got out of the car, pulling out her small suitcase. She then thanked the cabbie, handing him the fare and a tip. Once he received the tip, the taxicab sped off into the distance, leaving her alone.

Once the cab had departed, she scanned the skies to see if there were any threats that were coming. So far, she found nothing suspicious, but she wanted to make certain. To that end, she let out Starmie and told it, "Starmie, scan the area to make sure that were not tracked and that no one is waiting to ambush us."

Starmie nodded and scanned the area. It detected nothing out of the ordinary at all, save for a seemingly suspicious and questioning Professor Sycamore inside the lab, a fact that it relayed to Leaf. That put Leaf on edge so she pulled out her Poké Ball once more and said, "Starmie return. We don't want to make the professor uncomfortable."

She then returned Starmie to its Poké Ball. Still, something was not right. Still, if she was walking into a trap, she wanted to be the one to spring it and not have her Pokémon fall into it, instead. Once she was ready, she walked up to the lab's entrance and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" a masculine voice asked from the other side.

"It's me, Asuka," Leaf answered. "Professor Sycamore called me to the lab."

"Come in, then," the voice on the other side answered as the door opened, revealing that the voice belonged to none other than Professor Sycamore. As he let her in, he looked out at the street to make sure that no one was watching them.

"The streets appear to be clear," Leaf told him. "I scanned them with one of my Pokémon before coming to the entrance."

"I don't expect there to be any trouble," the professor stated plainly.

"Let's hope not," Leaf agreed.

Professor Sycamore then motioned for the girl to follow him. She did so as he went over to a large wooden door and pushed it open. He then motioned for her to enter, saying, "Ladies first."

Leaf cast an almost annoyed glance at him as she entered the room. When she entered the room, she saw that it was already occupied. She instantly recognized Clemont and Bonnie sitting on large, comfortable looking brown sofa. Sitting in a plush armchair next to them was Meyer, though she did not recognize him. Clemont and Bonnie shot up when they saw Leaf, recognizing her as Asuka Makinami from before. Meyer looked at her and recognized her as well, his eyes going wide with surprise, though he recognized her as Leaf, rather than Asuka Makinami.

"Asuka, what are you doing here?" Clemont asked.

"So that's your real name, is it Leaf?" Meyer asked Leaf, as he gave her a kind smile.

"Huh?" Clemont and Bonnie asked in unison. "Leaf?"

Meyer then gave a hearty laugh. "Kids, allow me to introduce you to Leaf, the Kanto League Champion and the current reigning World Pokémon League Champion!"

Clemont and Bonnie's eyes went wide at the revelation as they looked over at Leaf. She blushed as Meyer introduced her. Meyer then looked over at Leaf and asked, "I heard my son call you Asuka. Is that your real name?"

Leaf shook her head. "Asuka Makinami is merely a pseudonym. You may call me Leaf for the time being."

Professor Sycamore then smiled and said, "Now that everyone seems to have been introduced, let's get started." He then invited Leaf to take a seat in one of the empty chairs.

"I prefer to stand," she told him.

Sycamore inclined his head a bit but did not push the issue. Once everyone was ready, he began the discussion. "Okay everyone, I take it you know what has happened recently around here with the seeming resurgence of Team Flare."

"Team Flare?" Leaf asked, not familiar with the name, but suspecting that they were the ones behind the attack on her and her Pokémon friends, as well as the ones that were adjusting Ash and Serena.

"Team Flare was a villainous team that attempted to use a weapon called the Ultimate Weapon to cleanse the world of all sentient life a while back," Meyer answered. "They were stopped, but their boss, Lysandre, was not found and their leaders didn't stay in jail for very long, a benefactor paying their bail and them never heading back to court."

"They let them out on bail?" Leaf asked incredulously.

Meyer nodded, echoing the sentiment. "Their chief scientist was a man named Xerosic. He trained a Malamar, and was rumored to have trained a group of Malamars that formed a cult. No one knows where he is now."

"He's probably lying in an alley in Lumiose City dead, along with two members of this Malamar Cult you mentioned," Leaf answered. "My Pokémon friends and I fought two Malamars on top of Hotel Richissime when Starmie and Chandelure detected that they were doing something to the minds of Ash and Serena."

The mention of Ash and Serena caused the ears of the others to perk up. "Huh, what are you saying?" Bonnie asked.

"The Malamars confirmed that they were influencing to almost outright controlling the minds of my br…I mean Ash," Leaf said, catching herself, "and Serena. One of the Malamars I fought was killed in battle, being frozen and falling off the roof and shattering on the ground below." Her description brought a look of disgust from Bonnie. "The other one escaped and was later found dead in an alley along with a third Malamar, as well as a large, fat man wearing an orange uniform with orange glasses with milky white skin."

"That's definitely Xerosic," Clemont stated, nodding.

"And does anyone know where Lysandre currently is?" Leaf asked.

The others shook their heads. "I caught some Team Flare Grunts breaking into Professor Sycamore's Lab and tracked them down to a base in Lumiose City, the Lysandre Café, but when I investigated the café, they destroyed it, nearly killing me as well," Meyer stated. "If it wasn't for my Mega Blaziken, I would have died."

"Where were their other bases?" was Leaf's next question.

"They had one in Geosenge Town, but we've been getting no reports of any attempts for them to retake that base or any reports of strange activity coming from there," Sycamore answered.

"Are there _any_ reports coming from there?" Leaf asked, focusing on the professor. "Even reports of it being all clear?"

The professor shook his head.

"Then chances are that's where their headquarters is. They simply retook their old base."

"But why?" the professor asked. "There's nothing of note in Geosenge Town except the Ultimate Weapon and that was disabled."

"But not destroyed," Leaf interjected.

Professor Sycamore shook his head.

"How easy would it be to repair that thing?" Leaf asked next.

"I don't know," Sycamore answered. "I did some research on it after Team Flare's first defeat but it was far too complex for me to fully understand. It would take someone with an engineering degree for that."

As soon as he had finished that statement, he heard a ringing sound. Soon, an assistant of Professor Sycamore's a tall woman with dark blue hair and green eyes, wearing a white lab coat, came in. "Professor, you have to see this?"

"What is it Sophie?" Sycamore asked, his face showing concern.

"It's all over the news," the assistant answered as she took a remote control and turned on the television. Once it was on, they saw the headline: _ATTACK ON THE POKÉMON LEAGUE: KALOS CHAMPION AND MAJORITY OF ELITE FOUR DEAD_. On the screen was a woman that the group instantly recognized as Alexa. "This is Alexa on the scene at what was once the Kalos Pokémon League Headquarters. Reports are currently sketchy and investigators have cordoned off the area but what we know so far is that the Kalos League Champion and world famous actress, Diantha, is one of the fatalities. In addition, Drasna, Siebold, and Wikstrom were also killed in this horrific act of violence."

There was more, but Professor Sycamore tuned it out as he had to focus on the task at hand. Clemont, Bonnie, and Leaf watched the news, horrified expressions on the faces of all three children. "Damn, things just keep getting worse and worse," the professor uttered.

The others nodded in agreement. Clemont and Bonnie had had the privilege of meeting Diantha in the past and they had liked her. Leaf had not met her, but she had heard only good things about her. She could not imagine Diantha going down without a fight. She then looked over at Professor Sycamore and Meyer and noticed that they looked very nervous around her. She quickly decided that she had overstayed her welcome. Besides, she had gotten what she had needed anyway. She then made her way over towards the exit.

"It seems as if you have things of your own to deal with," she said casually. "I should be going. Besides, I have to talk to Ash to make sure everything is alright with him and Serena now that those Malamars are gone."

"No, stay a while," Professor Sycamore insisted. "I'm going to call Ash and Serena to alert them to what just happened anyway. We're better off together than we are apart. If we need to face a resurgent Team Flare, we'll need everyone we can get."

Leaf nodded in agreement and relaxed as Professor Sycamore went to call Ash and Serena. As he was doing so, she fingered her Poké Balls and steeled herself for the battle that was to come.

Meanwhile, during Leaf's trip to Professor Sycamore's Lab, Ash and Serena had just finished a second tour around Lumiose City and had returned to Hotel Richissime. During their tour, they had stopped at an ice cream parlor and had a large milkshake, which the two of them had shared, Serena gazing lovingly into Ash's eyes the entire time.

After they left the ice cream parlor, they headed back to the hotel so they could finally turn in for the night. As they entered the hotel, they nodded to the security guard, showing the id cards, and proceeded to the elevator to let it take them to the fifth floor.

When the reached the fifth floor, they exited the elevator and rushed over to Ash's room, large smiles still framing their faces. After sliding the card key into the slot, Ash pushed open the door and motioned for Serena to enter, saying, "Ladies first."

"Thank you, Ash," Serena answered as she entered, smiling back at him. He then followed her into the room, the door closing behind them.

Inside the hotel room, Serena jumped on the large bed and sat on it, looking over at Ash, who seemed content to stand, smiling at him. She then patted a section of the bed next to her and told him, "Sit."

He came over and sat next to her, smiling as she gazed into his eyes, her smile mirroring his own. "Well, that was fun," she quipped, smiling.

"Yeah," Ash answered, nodding, oblivious to the fact that Serena had every intention of making this another perfect romantic moment. "That milkshake was good, too."

"I know," Serena echoed, still hoping that Ash would actually get it through his thick skull that she wanted to do something romantic before going to bed, possibly next to him. Ever since he had gone to examine what had happened on the roof, he seemed to have undergone some changes. He was much more like his former self from his first journey through Kalos, thinking nothing of romance, focusing almost exclusively on his Pokémon journey. While he had been kind and willing to help those in need, he had been virtually oblivious to romance. When he had returned, he had still been just as kind as before, it was just that he was far more aware of romance and her own romantic interest in him.

She slid next to Ash and looked him in the eye, removing her fedora and putting it down on the bed. Ash looked over at her and saw her smile and returned it. Suddenly, feelings began to well up in his chest as he saw how lovely Serena was in the faint light. A part of him knew that even if his initial romantic outburst had been due to the Malamars, those feelings were not necessarily bad. And even more, he liked them, a lot. He then slid in closer and took hold of Serena's hand, causing her to blush. She looked back at him and could see that he was blushing as well.

"Serena, there's somethin' you should know," he began, gazing into her eyes, a more serious look crossing his face.

"Okay," she said with trepidation, fearing that he may try to tell her that he just wanted them to be friends.

"When I went up onto the roof and felt a weight leave me, I did not know what that meant at first. I was confused about several things, particularly my feelings towards you, since I had never had any romantic interests in my life before I met you. Heck, I was completely oblivious to romance before I met you, heck, even before I had returned to Kalos."

"And now?" Serena asked.

"And now, I'm not that oblivious child," Ash answered. "Throughout my adventures in Kalos, as well as around the other regions I've traveled since leaving, I've grown to learn that I really like you, Serena. You're different than any other girl I've ever known. I don't want us to grow apart, ever."

He then gathered her into his arms and kissed her on the lips. Her eyes went wide with surprise and joy for a moment before she responded and hugged him just as tightly, responding to his kiss, soft sighs escaping their mouths once more as they drifted back into mindless passion. They then both began caressing each other as they kissed, both of them beginning to reach the necks of their shirts. As they were kissing and caressing each other the phone rang, the loud ringing jarring them out of their passion again and back to reality. Both Ash and Serena could barely contain themselves as the perfect romantic moment had been interrupted by what was likely a telemarketing phone call. He looked over at the phone and was thankful that it was not a videophone. At least whoever was on the other side would not see Serena with him at this time of night.

"Oh the heck with it," Ash grumbled as he picked up the phone and hung up once more before going back over to Serena. This time, Serena fell onto her back, gazing and smiling up at Ash longingly and expectantly. Ash smiled back at her when the phone rang again, almost causing him to humorously fall over in shock. His shock was quickly replaced by annoyance with the phone's ringing.

He stormed over to the phone and picked it up and yelled, "This better be the most important phone call of my life!"

"It just may be," the voice of Professor Sycamore said on the other end of the line, causing Ash to regret his tone and to become concerned due to the Professor's own tone. He sounded worried. "Ash, I know that this is your birthday, but something's come up and we need your help. Can you meet me at my lab? Clemont, Meyer, and Bonnie are already here."

"What's wrong?" he asked, his heart filling with dread.

"I'd rather not say too much over the phone, but suffice to say, there was an attack on the Kalos League. It's all over the news. Reports indicate that Diantha and three members of the Elite Four are dead, along with many League Ace Trainers."

Ash almost dropped the phone at the report, his face blank with shock. No one had ever attacked the Pokémon League like this before, not even Team Rocket or Team Galactic. He rushed over to the television and quickly turned it on, causing Serena to grow concerned that something bad had happened. That was when he saw the images and the reports on the screen. Scrolling on the screen was, _ATTACK ON THE POKÉMON LEAGUE: KALOS CHAMPION AND MAJORITY OF ELITE FOUR DEAD_. His face was aghast at the report. He could even hear Serena gasp at the report. "I've just turned on the report, Professor," Ash told Sycamore.

He then heard the reporter on the scene, Alexa, give a report. "This is Alexa on the scene at what was once the Kalos Pokémon League Headquarters." Ash could see that nothing but rubble dotted the landscape behind the reporter. Both he and Serena gasped in disbelief. "Reports are currently sketchy and investigators have cordoned off the area but what we know so far is that the Kalos League Champion and world famous actress, Diantha, is one of the fatalities. In addition, Drasna, Siebold, and Wikstrom were also killed in this horrific act of violence. Even sadder, though, is that all of their Pokémon were also killed in the attack. Not much else is known about the attack. There were some reports that said that the Watchmen may have been behind the attack but most witnesses that I've interviewed, including some survivors, indicate that the Watchmen had nothing to do with the attack. Some have gone as far as to say that the attack was carried out by remnants of Team Flare and while that has yet to be confirmed, reports indicate that there are investigations into potential Team Flare activity in the last few months as well as potential involvement in this attack. We'll bring you more as it comes."

That was all Ash needed to hear. He immediately turned off the television and spoke into the phone, telling the professor, "I just saw the report. I'll be there as soon as possible."

With that, he hung up the phone before Professor Sycamore could say anything more. Once he hung up the phone, he turned to Serena and told her, "Professor Sycamore asked me to come over to his lab. Clemont, Bonnie, and Meyer are already there." He then gave her an almost wistful smile. "I guess we'll have to wait on that birthday present you wanted to give me. Hopefully, I won't be too long and we can come back later."

"Forget that," Serena said, getting out of the bed and going over to Ash. "I'm coming with you."

"But Serena, this could end up being dangerous especially if we have to fight someone or something powerful."

"If that's the case, then you'll need all the help you can get."

Ash could not fault her logic but he still felt as if this were an emotional reaction. Still, he did not want to fight Serena over something this trivial and he eventually told her, "Okay. I'll find Pikachu tell my Pokémon the situation."

The two then went out into the hallway, Ash going to his Pokémon's suite to inform his Pokémon of the situation. When he went outside, he saw Pikachu coming down the hallway. When he saw him, he told him, "Buddy, I'm afraid there's been an incident. Professor Sycamore needs to see us. The Pokémon League was attacked and Diantha and three of the Elite Four were killed."

Pikachu gasped in shock and immediately jumped up onto Ash's shoulder as he went to inform the rest of his Pokémon team, as well as Serena's, of what had happened. He rushed next door to his Pokémon's suite and slipped the card key into the lock. Once the light turned green, he opened the door and saw his Pokémon playing all around the room.

He held up his Poké Balls and told his Pokémon, "I'm sorry everyone, but I need you to return now. An emergency's come up."

The other Pokémon nodded and gave cries of affirmation. Ash then returned his Pokémon to their Poké Balls and clipped the balls to his belt. Once he was finished, he went out to inform Serena's team only to find Serena returning her Pokémon to their Poké Balls. When she saw him, she smiled and told him, "I've got everyone. Have you got everything you'll need in case we end up in a battle?"

Ash glanced bashfully at her and then went back into his hotel room to make sure that he had everything ready. He packed all of his essential belongings, as well as checking to make certain that Serena had not left anything of hers behind. He also made certain that he had all of the medicine that his Pokémon could need should circumstances force an unfriendly confrontation. Once he was ready, he departed the room and met Serena by the elevator. After they met, they called the elevator to them and waited for it to come. Once it arrived, they boarded the elevator and let it take them down to the ground level.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Ash and Serena rushed out of the hotel, rushing over to the taxi stop, Pikachu gripping Ash's shoulder tightly as he ran to the stop. There, they hailed a cab. The cab arrived at the stop and the passenger door opened, the cabbie saying, "Where to?"

"We need to go to Professor Sycamore's Lab. Time is of the essence so we need to go the shortest route."

"Will do," the cabbie answered. "Get on in."

Ash and Serena then entered the cab and took their seats in the rear. They closed the door and then buckled their seatbelts. Once they were strapped in, the cab took off, heading south along North Boulevard.

The first part of the ride down North Boulevard was unremarkable. Normally, Ash and Serena would be gazing out the window looking at the scenery, but at the moment, they just wanted to reach Professor Sycamore's lab as quickly as possible. As the cab drove down the street, they noticed that the street seemed to be oddly desolate, which surprised them. While it was getting to be a little late, it was not the dead of night.

As they got further into the ride, they noticed that the street up ahead was cordoned off, police tape lining the street, blocking it to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The cabbie then turned on the radio and the report came in over the radio already in progress, "According to several witnesses, the attack helicopter made an attack run on Leaf and two Pokémon that were out. She retaliated by sending out her Venusaur, who shot down the vehicle with a single Energy Ball while her Starmie and Chandelure kept it immobile so the explosion would not rain shrapnel down on the people. Police are still on the scene and have cordoned off the street to any and all traffic. Vehicles and pedestrians are urged to use alternate detour routes until the scene has been cleaned."

"Well, that's it," the cabbie said, looking back at Ash and Serena, informing them of the situation. "Looks like we'll have to take a detour through the center of town. This may take a while if it's crowded."

Ash and Serena indicated that this would not be too much of an issue. They nodded and the cabbie turned the cab to the right and took the side roads around the crash site as he guided the cab towards Professor Sycamore's lab.

The trip to Professor Sycamore's lab did not take much longer. The cab turned back onto South Boulevard and continued south until it came to a building on the southernmost point of Lumiose City. Ash recognized this as Professor Sycamore's lab.

"And here we are kids," the cab driver exclaimed in anticipation. "That'll be two thousand Poké Dollars."

Ash handed the driver the money and then exited the car. He then went around to the other side and opened the door for Serena, taking her hand as she went out. "Why thank you, young sir," Serena said the air of a American southern belle. Wasting no time, the group rushed into Professor Sycamore's lab.

They rushed past the entry hallway and into the interior of the lab, where Professor Sycamore was sitting on a sofa, with Clemont, Bonnie, and Meyer, already present sitting on the sofa with him with Leaf standing near a corner away from the light. Ash could not help but notice the girl's smile as he entered. Ash and Serena were surprised to see Leaf present but they did not say anything. This was not the time to make small talk, and Ash knew that Leaf was not very good at making small talk, either.

As for Clemont and Bonnie, the younger of the sibling soon looked over at Ash and Serena and gave a mischievous smile. "So, how was your night out?" she quipped with a mischievous, and knowing, wink.

"It could have been better," Serena admitted, turning to give a mock scowl towards Ash. "A lot happened that I don't fully understand."

"I know I don't fully understand everything that happened," Ash told them. "I won't get into the specifics, but I had a strong feeling of things changing recently. And I mean very recently, like within the last hour or two. But that's not why we're here right now, is it?"

Professor Sycamore shook his head and Bonnie frowned, wanting to learn more about Ash and Serena's night. Sycamore motioned for Ash and Serena to sit, which they did. As they went to sit, though, Ash noticed Leaf looking at him appraisingly, as if she were trying to ascertain if something strange was going on with him. Once they sat, Professor Sycamore looked at each of them with a serious expression on his face.

"I take it you all saw the news report," he began.

Everyone nodded.

"What you probably don't know is that the report was quickly cut off and in its place were reruns of the Pokémon Showcase Master Class competition as well as some Gym Leader battles," the professor told them, causing Ash and Serena to gasp.

"That happened with another report as well," Leaf added. "There was a report of strange trees sprouting up in various regions around the Pokémon World. I talked to some of my contacts in Kanto and they confirmed that they've also appeared in the US, Russia, and South America as well."

"And that's not all," Sycamore added.

"What else happened?" Ash asked.

"This was _not_ reported on the news. There was an attack on someone in Lumiose City not too long ago. An attack helicopter made an attack run on Leaf."

"We know," Ash stated.

"How do you know that?" Clemont asked. "We only heard about it recently from Sina and Dexio as they were listening in on police scanners."

"We passed the helicopter crash scene on our way here," Serena explained. "It's why it took longer to get here than we had hoped."

"The police had already cordoned off the area and we saw medical examiners remove the bodies," Ash added.

"Then you know that the attack was a failure," the Professor stated. "Leaf survived but we have no idea why she was targeted."

"Actually, we may," Clemont interjected, causing the group to turn to her. He then went over to a laptop computer and input a series of commands. "Before the report about the attack on the Pokémon League, there was another report on the world news. The broadcast in Lumiose City was cut off, but they couldn't cut it off elsewhere in the world. Watch this."

Clemont then pressed a single button and the screen came to life. The headline on the screen read, _STRANGE TREES GROWING ALL OVER THE WORLD_. _Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova find strange massive trees growing in their regions_. In the report, one of the anchors of the news was already talking to a reporter, who Ash recognized as being Gabby from the Hoenn Region. He looked to be standing close to Viridian Forest.

"This is Gabby, reporting live from just outside of Kanto's Viridian Forest. Even the Kanto Region has not escaped the grip of these new massive trees that have been growing for the past week around the world. I talked to Professor Oak, as well as Gary Oak, and they are as puzzled about the appearance of these new trees as everyone else is. Even Cynthia, the Sinnoh League Champion, and a researcher of mythology from various regions, has never heard of these types of trees before. In addition, the current Viridian City Gym Leader, Gary Oak, has told me that he has used a number of Psychic-type Pokémon to try to scan the tree and discover what is going on with it, but they were unable to detect anything at all, with Gary saying, and I quote, 'it's almost as if the tree, itself, was a form of Dark-type Pokémon. My Pokémon could detect absolutely nothing from it.'"

The program paused and Clemont continued speaking, saying, "There was more to this report than that. It went into various theories as to what the trees could be, but something strange stood out.

He then continued the story Gabby speaking once more, saying, "Numerous other Trainers report the same thing happening with the trees in the other regions as well. Several science groups and professors are studying the trees, or trying to, but this is being complicated by the fact that the trees now seem to be draining the life out of the ground around them. Reports indicate several Trainers ran close to the trees, only to feel a tingly sensation that is almost immediately followed by lethargy. They have said that had they not retreated, that they may very well have died there."

"Where have we seen that before?" Clemont asked knowingly.

"They just described the special abilities of Yveltal to a tee," Professor Sycamore stated.

"Yes, but the tree form is Xerneas's alternate form," Ash almost contested.

"We know," Professor Sycamore said, nodding. "This could mean anything, but with the attack on the Pokémon League, the failed attack on Leaf, and other anecdotal incidents, this means that Team Flare could be back."

"No 'could be' about it," Meyer stated. "They most definitely _are_ back. And they're back with a vengeance."

"What do you mean?" Serena asked.

"After the lab was broken into and the Key Stones and Mega Stones were stolen, I tracked the thieves back to the old Lysandre Café and the Lysandre Labs in the basement. The lab was abandoned but it looked to have been evacuated in a hurry. Even worse, though, was the fact that they scuttled the base, almost taking me with it. If it wasn't for Blaziken as well as Diantha's timely arrival, I never would have made it out of there alive. Worse yet, though, is the fact that I think it was a trap. That jives with what we've seen from the attack on the Pokémon League, as well as the attempt on Leaf's life, though I did not know that Leaf was an enemy of Team Flare."

"She was probably just a target of opportunity that they did not want to risk having ruin their plans," the professor surmised.

"They may have targeted me because I engaged this Malamar Cult, killing one of them and forcing another to retreat. That's why I'm not currently onboard a supersonic flight back to Kanto," she added, looking over at Ash, prompting Serena to look worriedly at Ash as he was completely oblivious to Leaf's staring at him.

"That's not all that important at the moment," the professor interjected. "The scarier part is the report about Calem, Trevor, Shauna, and Tierno."

"What about them?" Ash, Serena, and Clemont asked in unison. Leaf also took an interest in the professor's prelude.

"They were found dead inside of Vaniville Town," Professor Sycamore answered. "It was apparently a murder-suicide, but I have my doubts about that."

Ash and Serena's eyes went wide with shock. Clemont and Bonnie's expressions mirrored Ash and Serena's, indicating that this was also the first time they had heard of this. Leaf merely gave a sigh, knowing that there were four more casualties in the fight against Team Flare.

"Calem…Shauna, dead?" Serena stammered, barely able to utter that statement. It was beyond belief her ability to imagine that two of her friends were now dead. What made it even worse was the fact that reports seemed to indicate that it was a murder-suicide. That was unlike any of them. "I don't believe it," she stated, having to hold back tears. "There's no way that it was a murder-suicide."

"I agree," Professor Sycamore agreed, nodding. "Calem had recently beaten Diantha in his Elite Four challenge and become a Champion. If anyone would be a threat to Team Flare, it would be him."

"What makes everyone think it was a murder-suicide?" Clemont asked.

"When investigators arrived, they saw that Calem had a stab wound through the heart, Tierno was beheaded, and Trevor had a stab wound through the head between the eyes," Professor Sycamore answered grimly. "The few news reports offered by Malva indicate that Shauna was the killer and that she took her own life after killing her friends. That doesn't explain why there were no marks on her and why her death was due to her neck being broken. It was twisted almost one hundred and eighty degrees. If _I_ had to venture a guess, I would say that a Psychic-type Pokémon did it."

"But what Pokémon would do something like that?" Bonnie asked.

"The Malamar Cult," Ash seethed. "That brings me back to something else. While I was still in my room, I heard the sounds of battle on the roof of Hotel Richissime. When I went to investigate, no one was up there, but there were clear signs of a battle. When I looked over the edge, I saw the shattered remains of a Malamar on the sidewalk. Serena was staying in my hotel room, due to a bedbug infestation," he added quickly, "so chances were that the Malamars were trying to do something with Leaf."

"Probably mind control," Clemont guessed.

"They were," Leaf confirmed. "They failed," she finished, grinning.

Ash then began to grin almost with grim satisfaction, echoing Leaf's, something that was uncharacteristic for him, which was quickly picked up on by Serena, who cast a surreptitious quizzical glance over at him.

"Either way, it's a bad thing if the Malamar Cult is working with Team Flare," Professor Sycamore stated.

"More like _was_ ," Leaf interjected. Professor Sycamore cast a quizzical glance at the girl. Leaf then explained what he meant. "After fighting the Malamars on the roof of Hotel Richissime, I chased the surviving Malamar into an alley and found the bodies of two Malamars and that of an obese Team Flare Scientist."

"Almost certainly Xerosic," Ash surmised, Leaf's description fitting Xerosic to a T.

"I think that the Malamar Cult is dead," Leaf concluded.

"Then this could all be over?" Serena asked in a hopeful tone. She wanted nothing more than to have any dark business be over with so she could get back to her date with Ash. Still, she had that nagging feeling that it was not going to be finished so easily.

"Unfortunately, no," Professor Sycamore confirmed. "After Meyer arrived here to alert me as to what had happened at Lysandre Labs, I sent Sina and Dexio out to see if there were any more Team Flare members or activity since Meyer described fighting Team Flare Grunts at the entrance to the base. Both he and I are almost certain that even with Xerosic dead, that there's still Team Flare activity going on. After all, Lysandre's fate was never confirmed after Team Flare was beaten the first time. If he's still alive, I could easily see him being able to gather the remnants of Team Flare back together."

"But several Team Flare members stated that they only served Team Flare because they were mind controlled into doing it by the Malamar Cult, Malva being one of them," Serena said. "Without the Malamar Cult, many of Team Flare's more powerful agents won't be going back."

"And you believe that?" Leaf blurted, casting a skeptical glance over at Serena, causing her to blush and regret that she had spoken. Professor Sycamore shook his head, too.

"No, that was just a cover for the high-ranking officials and media personnel that were caught as members of Team Flare," he concluded. "If Lysandre's back, or someone with enough charisma and/or resources has taken the reins of Team Flare, the bigwigs will go back. After all, Lysandre wasn't shy about his endgame."

Ash and the others nodded. They knew all too well that Lysandre's final endgame was to destroy all sentient life save for the members of Team Flare and their Pokémon in order to create a beautiful world, which Lysandre thought was being destroyed, particularly with Earth having a key role in the Galactic Federation Civil War. And even then, not all Team Flare members would likely have made it had Lysandre been successful.

"So what do we do?" Ash asked.

"Right now, we wait for Sina and Dexio to report in," the professor answered. "They should be inside Geosenge Town at this very moment."

A knock soon sounded at the door. "Come in," Sycamore called.

The door opened and Professor Sycamore's assistant, Sophie, entered. "Professor, you've got a phone call."

"I'll take it in here," the professor told Sophie.

"Professor, it's Dexio, and he said he wants to speak with you alone, out of earshot of any of the kids."

A quizzical look crossed the professor's face, but he shrugged and said, "Fine, I'll take it in my office." He then turned back to the others and said, "I have to take this call. I sent Sina and Dexio on a mission to try and find out what was going on with Team Flare after Meyer came to me, to try to find out what they're planning. Maybe we'll learn something," he added hopefully. "I should be back soon."

He then departed from the group, leaving the kids and Meyer to talk amongst themselves. Leaf did not do much talking, though, simply listening to Meyer, his children, and Ash discuss the recent events. Seeing Meyer and his children talk brought back memories of her own father, and how she missed him. She did not let any of that show, though. Still, she had a bad feeling in the back of her mind, like something bad was about to happen.

Meanwhile, Professor Sycamore went over to his desk, which had a Holo Caster. He activated the Holo Caster and Dexio's face appeared on the screen. "Professor, I have news to report."

"About Team Flare?" Sycamore asked.

Dexio shook his head. "No, sir. This is a different threat, but one that is no less dangerous." Dexio paused as Sycamore looked at him sternly. He then continued, "Sir, there is a Pokémon Trainer codenamed Leaf that has recently entered Kalos."

"Yes, I know. She's here with me right now," Sycamore answered, wondering where Dexio was going with this line of questioning.

"You can't let her leave at all. She's a fugitive. There are outstanding warrants for her arrest from Kanto. She is wanted for theft and kidnapping for stealing her starter Pokémon as well as several items from Professor Oak, as well as for scamming a large number of people when she was young," Dexio told him. "She is even a person of interest in the murders of several people, some of them politicians, and Pokémon as well. Whatever you do, you can't let her escape."

"And you have evidence backing up these accusations? She seems nice enough to me." Professor Sycamore was skeptical of the claims, having met Leaf and viewing her as an even tempered person. She did not seem to be the person that Dexio was describing.

Dexio nodded. "I'm sending all relevant information to you now. Check your computer and have a your printer ready."

Sycamore went over to the computer and checked the files that Dexio had sent him. His face went white as he saw the evidence that had been gathered against Leaf. It all looked legitimate. There was no denying it. It seemed as if this Leaf was a criminal, and a very dangerous one at that. He then went back to the Holo Caster and said, "I've received everything. What do you want me to do?"

"I've already alerted the authorities in both Kalos and the Kanto Region of Japan. They're sending over some agents that were already tracking her as we speak. Just keep her in the lab. Whatever you do, don't let her leave. We may never get another chance to neutralize her threat."

"I understand," Sycamore answered, deactivating the Holo Caster and looking at the evidence once more. His eyes went wide. How could the girl in the back room with Meyer, Clemont, and Bonnie be a criminal, possibly even a murderer? First thing was first, though; he had to confine Leaf, while getting Meyer Clemont and Bonnie away from her she could not use them as hostages. To that end, he went over to a Holo Caster and dialed Sophie's comm code and said, "Sophie, prepare the Grass-type Pokémon that are in the main research wing. We're gonna need them."

Meanwhile, on the roof of a tall building on the other side of Lumiose City, a man looking identical to Dexio turned off his Holo Caster and grinned. He stood next to a computer monitor and looked into it. He saw the interior of Professor Sycamore's lab, the professor looking nervous as he went to go back and talk to Leaf and keep her in place so that the 'authorities' could pick her up. He then touched his wrist and the image of Dexio vanished, being replaced by a man in a black suit with a helmet that had an orange faceplate with a faint E on it. He put his hands to his helmet and removed it, revealing a man with orange hair and orange sunglasses. He then took out his cell phone and dialed Lysandre's number. After a few rings, the Team Flare Boss picked up and asked, "What is it?"

"Sir, you wanted me to inform you when Professor Sycamore was alerted to the dangers and 'crimes' of Leaf. I have just finished talking with him. He's going to keep her confined inside the lab until the authorities come to apprehend her."

"Excellent, I'll inform my acquaintances," came Lysandre's answer a moment before the line was terminated. Once the line was terminated, the Team Flare operative continued to look through the monitor and grin. Soon, the greatest remaining threat to Team Flare would be eliminated. And once she was eliminated, they would have no further meaningful resistance.

Inside Team Flare's Headquarters, Lysandre stood in the command center, a large screen framing the wall in front of him. He grinned as he received the information from the grunt in Lumiose City. He then hung up his phone and took out the little black book, looking for a certain number. When he found it, he dialed the number and waited for a few rings before the phone was answered. After a gruff greeting, Lysandre answered, "Greetings. You don't know me, and I've only heard of you in passing. However, I am well aware of your organization's feud with a certain Pokémon Trainer codenamed Leaf. Her capture would most certainly enhance your reputation in your organization, would it not?" He then paused as the speaker on the other end wondered why that was important. He then continued, "Well, I just so happen to know where she is, and that she is contained in a certain lab in the Kalos Region of France."

He grinned as an audible, and sinister, "We're listening," was heard on the other end of the line, coming from a female voice that would have been all too familiar sounding to Ash and his friends.

Back inside Professor Sycamore's lab, a bead of sweat formed on the Professor brow as he opened the door to the back room and saw Leaf standing calmly in a corner while Meyer conversed with his children, Ash, and Serena. When he entered, Leaf took one look at him and noticed that something was wrong. "Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Sure," Professor Sycamore answered in an unconvincingly cheerful tone, something both Leaf and Meyer were quick to notice, prompting Leaf to scowl and grow concerned. She fingered Starmie and Chandelure's Poké Balls but did not deploy them yet. If something concerned the professor, she did not want to cause him more anxiety.

"Meyer, may I see you for a moment?" Sycamore asked.

"Sure," Meyer answered, rising from the sofa and going over to the Professor. "What is it?"

"Not in front of the kids," Sycamore answered.

"Okay," Meyer said skeptically as he followed Augustine Sycamore out into the main room. Once they were in the main room, Meyer asked, "What is it?"

"Leaf is a criminal from Kanto," Sycamore answered plainly.

That drew a gasp from Meyer. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Dexio sent over the evidence," came Sycamore's answer. He then produced the papers that showed the evidence against Leaf. "I checked it out, myself. It's legitimate. She's a criminal, a con artist, and possibly, even likely, a murderer. Dexio's already contacted the authorities. We just have to keep her here until they arrive to take her back to Kanto."

"Oh my gosh!" Meyer exclaimed. "Clemont and Bonnie!"

The two then made their way back into the room where Clemont, Bonnie, Serena, and Ash were talking about the recent events. They looked over at Leaf and saw that she was standing back, listening to them but not participating in the conversation, itself. When they saw her, they did their best to smile. Professor Sycamore then turned to face Serena and said, "Serena, may we see you for a second?"

Serena looked up at them nervously. Had they seen her and Ash kissing in his hotel room? Was their romantic encounter posted all over the internet and/or Holo Caster feeds? "Uh, sure," she eventually stammered in answer. She then rose to join Professor Sycamore and Meyer as they led her out into the main lab.

Out in the main lab, Serena looked at Professor Sycamore and Meyer quizzically. "Is there something wrong, sirs?" she asked, worried about the prospect of her visit with Ash being discovered.

Both men nodded. "Yes, there is something wrong," they answered.

Serena's heart sank as she dreaded that they were about to either admonish her for her visit with Ash, or tell her that the whole world now knew of that visit, or both. She was incredibly relieved when Professor Sycamore said, "Leaf is a criminal from Kanto. She is wanted for theft, Pokénapping, and is even a person of interest in some murders."

Serena almost heaved a sigh of relief when she heard the Professor's statement, ignoring the fact that her friends were trapped with a thief, Pokénapper, and a suspected murderer, though she managed to catch herself and make the sigh natural. She let out a gasp when she finally comprehended what the professor had actually told her. "What? Leaf's a criminal? But she's the World Pokémon League Champion!"

"We know," Sycamore replied. "I didn't believe it, myself, but Dexio sent me all of the evidence against her. It looks legitimate. Anyway, the authorities are on their way and they should be here within a few minutes."

"What do we do?"

"First off, let out Delphox," Professor Sycamore directed. "She knows Psychic, right?"

Serena nodded.

"Good. We'll use that to keep Leaf from letting out her own Pokémon. Without her Pokémon, she'll be much more manageable."

Serena nodded and let Delphox out of her Poké Ball. Delphox emerged from her Poké Ball and looked around, seeing Serena standing with Professor Sycamore and Meyer, wondering why she had been called out. Serena then took a deep breath before alerting Delphox to the situation.

"Delphox, Leaf is inside the other room with Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie. She went by the name Asuka Makinami, the Trainer we fought at Hotel Richissime; the same one who clobbered us," she chagrined. "However, we've just learned that she is also a dangerous criminal and quite possibly a murderer. Our friends are in there alone with her. We know what she can do if is able to let out her Pokémon from her Poké Balls. Fortunately, she is keeping them inside. When we go back into that room, you have to use Psychic to keep those balls closed and lock them in the process. Also, try to freeze Leaf's body as well the moment we go in. That's the only surefire way we'll be able to neutralize her threat until the authorities come to pick her up."

Delphox nodded and the quartet then turned to head back into the other room. Serena took a deep breath as she went to follow the men into the room, hoping that Leaf did not suspect that anything was wrong.

When they entered, they looked around and saw Leaf standing in the corner of the room while Ash was talking with Clemont and Bonnie. Serena saw Leaf focusing her gaze on Ash and she became alarmed, everything that she had heard from Professor Sycamore coming to the forefront of her mind. No longer was her concern about Leaf due to any potential romantic interest in Ash, now it was for his safety.

Almost as if she could feel the shift in the air, Leaf looked over at Serena, Professor Sycamore, Meyer, and Delphox quizzically, viewing a deployed Pokémon to be a prelude for some sort of trouble. Serena was immediately put on edge as she narrowed her gaze on the girl and her Pokémon.

"Is everything okay?" Leaf asked. "Why has Serena let out Delphox?"

Serena began to sweat as she did not have a good answer that would not draw suspicion from the World Champion. "Well, you see, it's because…" the Kalos Queen stammered.

"It's because we were doing some research on it and because we were concerned about being overheard by any Team Flare agents," Professor Sycamore answered casually.

"Is Team Flare out there?" Ash asked worriedly.

"Not now," Sycamore answered, calming the boy. He then cast a surreptitious glance at Leaf before continuing, "But we have to keep all options open."

"Then let me help," Leaf said, grabbing two of her Poké Balls, likely Starmie and Chandelure. When she tossed them into the air and called, "Starmie, Chandelure, come on out," though, the balls flew into the air but did not open. Leaf's eyes went wide with surprise as she went over to her Poké Balls to check on them. When she did so, she scowled, for she saw that the locks were activated. She then checked the rest of her Poké Balls and saw that the locks were active for them, too. She then went to unlock her Poké Balls when she felt a field of energy restrict her movements. The group looked over at Delphox and saw that she was using Psychic on Leaf. Ash gasped while Clemont and Bonnie looked on in curiosity and concern.

"What's going on here?" Leaf seethed, turning her gaze towards Serena's Delphox. "I always keep my Poké Balls unlocked. And why aren't you letting me unlock them? I'm trying to help you guys."

"Yeah, what's this all about?" Ash demanded, echoing Leaf's sentiments.

"Ask Leaf," Professor Sycamore answered.

Ash looked over at Leaf quizzically. She scowled at Professor Sycamore and then gave a quizzical look over at Ash, indicating that she was as in the dark as to why they would betray her as he was. She then cast her gaze back at the professor. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"You know why you're being restrained," Sycamore answered grimly.

"No I don't," Leaf retorted angrily. "Please enlighten me."

"Let's start at the beginning," Sycamore began.

"Of what?" came Leaf's snide retort.

"Yeah, why's she being treated like a criminal?" Bonnie asked.

"That's because she is," Meyer answered.

The others gasped. They then looked back at Leaf. "Is that true?" Ash asked, not believing that Leaf, the World Pokémon League Champion, was a criminal.

"Of course not," Leaf scoffed. "They must be making this up."

"Apparently it is," Sycamore contradicted. "Anyway, let's start at the beginning."

"Again, of what?"

"Of why you called me and why you're really here," came his answer.

"I came because you told me to come here so we could discuss the people in the orange uniforms, who I now know to be Team Flare."

"Yes," the professor answered, nodding. "But the question, Leaf, is who are _you_?"

Leaf was taken aback. "I've already told you, my name is…"

"Asuka Makinami," Sycamore interrupted. "Well, you see, I've received some information about you from an assistant of mine in the field. I should have seen it the moment I heard your name was Asuka Makinami. Asuka was the name of a character from an animé series called Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Makinami was the surname of a character from a movie series version of Evangelion named Mari Illustrious Makinami."

"So you know pre World War Three Japanese pop culture," Leaf shrugged.

"In essence, your name is phony," Professor Sycamore said, ignoring Leaf's statement. "And in addition to all of that, you look more Caucasian than Japanese." He then stared at her, focusing on her blue eyes.

"What's your point?" Leaf asked.

"Who are you really?" Professor Sycamore asked, though he actually already knew the answer, or at least he _thought_ he did.

"My codename is Leaf," Leaf answered. "And I am the World Pokémon League Champion."

"I know that," the Professor stated.

"And I told you why I came here, to find out about Team Flare. Now I know, and now I must go."

She went to make her way to the research wing's exit and leave the lab when the professor stood in front, spreading out his arms and barring her way. "Yes," Professor Sycamore answered. "However, you appear to have been the cause of quite a bit of trouble, yourself."

"Only if you're a member of Team Rocket," Leaf answered with a grin.

"Not only them," the professor countered, staring at the girl. "I've also learned that you have had an encounter with Professor Samuel Oak in the past as well."

Leaf's face darkened at the mention of Professor Oak's name. "Yes," she said, not denying it.

"You stole your starter, Bulbasaur, from him."

Ash's eyes went wide at the revelation. He looked over at Leaf, his mouth agape. "Is this true?"

"I freed him from the lab and he decided to join me on my journey," she corrected.

"That's not how the professor, or the higher ups in the Kanto Pokémon League saw it," the professor pressed.

"No charges were ever filed and even if they were, Bulbasaur, now Venusaur, has the right to decide his own path," Leaf answered sternly. "Professor Oak is just mad because I made a mockery of his grandson in my very first battle, as well as every subsequent battle I've had against him ever since."

"That's not how I see things," Professor Sycamore countered. "And there's also the fact that you conned a lot of people out of a lot of money selling useless items in your pre-Trainer youth as well as during the early parts of your Training career."

"I only went after members of Team Rocket, a criminal organization that has committed murder against both humans and Pokémon, my father likely being one of their victims!" Leaf contested hotly. It was clear that Professor Sycamore's line of questioning was getting to her. "What is this all about? Why are you not letting me leave?"

"I want to know if you're friend or foe!" Professor Sycamore answered just as forcefully.

"If you're an enemy of Team Rocket and this Team Flare, then I'm your friend," Leaf answered, staring him in the eye.

Professor Sycamore looked her in the eyes in return and his gut told him that she was, indeed, telling the truth and that she was, indeed, one of the good guys. However, Dexio was no liar and he had provided evidence showing that Leaf was a criminal _and_ that she was wanted in Kanto in connection with those crimes. To that end, he went against his gut and told Leaf, "Sadly, that is no longer important. You _are_ a criminal. And you _will_ return to Kanto to face justice."

"Mind showing me the evidence that I'm as bad as you seem to fear?" Leaf asked, grinning. "Mind providing evidence that _you_ aren't a member of Team Flare?"

Professor Sycamore frowned and brought out his Holo Caster. He activated it and showed her the evidence that had been gathered against her. Ash, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie also took a look at the evidence and looked back at Leaf, their eyes wide with shock. How could she be this criminal that the evidence showed her to be when she had been nice enough before, if a little gruff at times. Pikachu took a look at the evidence but remained skeptical. There was something in Leaf's tone, as well as her smell, that indicated that she was telling the truth and that she was one of the good guys.

Leaf turned and examined the files and documents and scoffed. "You're an idiot," she stated plainly. "Show me hard evidence, not some electronic files that could easily have been forged or doctored. This wouldn't hold up in a court of law at all, at least not in United Earth."

"It's good enough for me," Professor Sycamore stated.

"And me," Meyer agreed. "It's harder to forge electronic documents than you think."

"And how do you know that those aren't merely Team Rocket documents?" Leaf roared. "I'm their worst nightmare! They've tried, and failed, to kill me on several occasions! You don't think they'd try to use the law to beat me, too? Heck, maybe it's even a con by Team Flare! They _did_ just try, and fail, to kill me!"

Professor Sycamore and Meyer were not buying it, though. Sycamore and Meyer went over to a closet, fished inside, and came over with a length of rope. They came over towards Leaf so that they could bind her hands and feet. When they arrived, Meyer looked over at Delphox and nodded, indicating that she could loosen her grip on Leaf. The moment she did so and Leaf could move once more, she struck.

Lashing out with her hand, she jabbed her fingers into Professor Sycamore's throat, causing him to reflexively gag and drop the rope. She then reached into his pocket and took out a pocket knife, which she then threw at Delphox's head. The Fire/Psychic-type Pokémon broke her hold on Leaf for a moment to grab the knife and stop it from reaching her. That momentary lapse was all Leaf needed to kick Meyer in the knee, causing him to shout and fall to the ground. As soon as Meyer fell to the floor, the sounds of approaching vehicles and what sounded to be recorded sounds of sirens echoed outside. The authorities had arrived, or at least, someone pretending to be the authorities.

Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie stood there in shock as Leaf immediately made for the door. Ash, however, attempted to intercept her, interposing himself between her and the door. "Out of the way, Ash," Leaf warned. "I don't want to hurt you, but I'll go through you if necessary."

"I'm not lettin' you escape, Leaf," Ash retorted.

"You know that the evidence against me is trumped up," she continued. "I'm not your enemy. Don't make me one," she pleaded.

Ash was not listening, though. "Stop!" he commanded.

The girl could only look wistfully down at the ground. "So this is how it is," she lamented softly. She then lowered her shoulder and charged towards Ash, the boy assuming a defensive stance, ready to intercept her and fight her if needed. However, before she reached the boy, a bolt of lightning came from across the room and struck Leaf in the back. Electricity arced over the girl's body and Ash looked behind her to find Pikachu, tears welling up in his eyes as he fired the Thunderbolt on Leaf. Apparently, he must have befriended her earlier in the evening, likely during his tour. If only he knew what Pikachu did about the girl. Still, despite the assault, she was unwilling to surrender.

Doing her best to fight off the Thunderbolt, she attempted to crawl towards Ash, gazing up at him as she did so. Ash looked in her eyes and saw her pleading with him to let her go. He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Leaf," he said as she went over to her and pinned her to the ground. That was when Delphox focused on Leaf once more and used Psychic to put her into a chokehold. Leaf struggled against Ash's weight as she had to fight not only him, but also Delphox's Psychic. She fumbled around for her Poké Balls, hoping to unlock at least one of them before she passed out, knowing that her team could get her out of trouble. She was unable to do so, though, and she eventually fell unconscious, but not before seething, "You're all fools," she seethed. "I'm not the enemy. Team Flare is." With that, she fell unconscious, knowing that Ash and the others were dooming themselves.

Once Leaf was unconscious, Professor Sycamore rose and made his way over to her, grabbing the rope and he bound her hands and feet so that she would not be able to escape once she regained consciousness. He then reached down and relieved her of her Poké Balls, along with her backpack. He fished inside and saw more Poké Balls, along with some potions and Revives. He then looked back at the unconscious girl and shook his head. It was funny how it seemed as if she had been running away from her past only for it to finally catch up to her.

Soon, the doorbell rang. "That must be the authorities," Sycamore surmised. He then turned to the kids and admonished them, "You stay back here. We'll handle this the rest of the way."

Ash and the others nodded hesitantly. Professor Sycamore and Meyer then grabbed Leaf's arms and led her out of the back room and headed towards the main entrance. Despite the professor's admonishment, they followed the professor and Meyer as they led Leaf to the door. As they did so, she slowly regained consciousness. Her eyes opened slowly and she looked around for a second before she comprehended that she was being dragged towards the front door. A hard knock soon sounded at the door.

"Coming," the professor called, leading the girl towards the door.

When they reached the door, they opened it and saw three figures standing in front of them, one was male, another female, and the third figure's gender could not be determined, since he or she was bundled in several layers of clothing and was also short. Sycamore and Meyer figured that the figure was either a dwarf or a child agent. As for the other two, they were wearing plain clothes, though both had hats on. The features that stood out the most, though, were the colors of their hair. The female had magenta hair while the male had lavender hair. Leaf frowned as she instantly recognized the three as Jessie, James, and Meowth of Team Rocket.

"Hello," Professor Sycamore began. "May I ask who you are?"

"I am Agent Jessibella," Jessie answered.

"And I am Agent Jamison," James answered.

"And I'm Agent Theow," Meowth answered.

Leaf almost groaned as Meowth introduced himself. Professor Sycamore and Meyer, however, did not recognize them at all. Neither did Ash or any of his friends as they watched the proceedings. Leaf looked back at Ash and the others and inclined her head towards the Team Rocket trio, trying to get them to recognize them as the criminals that they really were. When she did not get a response, she shrugged.

"Do you have the girl?" Jessie asked.

"Right here," Professor Sycamore answered. Some of Leaf's misgivings must have gotten through to him, for he then asked, "Excuse me, but may I ask who you are affiliated with?"

"We're members of the International Police Force," Jessie answered.

"Great," Leaf said sarcastically. "Then you won't mind showing us your badges and photo IDs."

"We don't need no badges," Meowth answered harshly. "We're undercover."

"Then how do I know you're cops?" Leaf retorted. "Anyone can claim to be an agent of a police force. Without the proper badges and IDs, though, you're nothing but impostors."

"That's enough of this," Jessie answered as she glared down at Leaf and then at the professor. "Quiet her down. We don't want any trouble here."

"Yes, ma'am," Professor Sycamore answered. He then looked down at Leaf and pushed her down towards the ground. When she resisted and tried to flee, a Thunderbolt came from behind the group and struck her again, electricity arcing across her body, causing her to fall to the ground, her body still sparking.

The Team Rocket trio looked back and saw that Pikachu had shocked Leaf, they gave evil grins for a second. Ash then followed Pikachu, saying, "Good work, buddy."

Pikachu was not as thrilled as Ash, or Serena, seemed to be, though. The Rockets then waved back to Ash and Pikachu and called, "Thanks for the help. You have no idea how long it's taken us to find her, much less actually apprehend her. You have done the Pokémon World a great service today."

"You're welcome," Ash replied.

"Ash, you're an even bigger idiot than I thought!" Leaf croaked, trying to call to the boy. "They're Team Rocket: Jessie, James, and Meowth! They're the enemy."

Ash made no response, merely gritting his teeth as the two humans picked her up, with Meowth grinning as he tagged along behind them.

"We'll take it from here," James told Professor Sycamore and Meyer.

The professor and 'superhero' nodded and handed Leaf over to the trio. The trio looked at them and then asked, "And her Pokémon?"

"Oh," Professor Sycamore answered as he went back to grab Leaf's Poké Balls. He then handed them to the trio of police impersonators.

"Again, we wish to thank you all for your cooperation," Jessie stated.

"You're welcome," Professor Sycamore answered. "It was no problem."

Jessie and James then grinned as they took Leaf by each arm and dragged her towards their car, a beat up looking car with a magnetic light on top of it. There was no way she figured that such a car could pass for a police car. She gave one last dark look at Professor Sycamore, Meyer, as well as Ash and his friends. As she was being led away, she wished nothing good for any of them, but did not actively wish for anything evil to happen to them, either.

As they neared the car, Leaf eventually said, "Wait," canting her head towards the two humans as they were dragging her towards the car. "Don't I at least get a phone call?"

The Rockets stopped for a moment, glancing at one another. "Should we?" Jessie asked.

"Who could she call for help?" James asked.

"If we don't, though, de others may get suspicious," Meowth argued.

"He has a point," James conceded.

"Fine, miss," Jessie concluded. "You get one call. But _I_ get to dial it."

Leaf nodded as Meowth then went to grab her cell phone from her watch. Once he showed her the watch, she told him, "Dial this number: eight-one-four, three six three, five six six four."

Meowth dialed the number as directed by Leaf, prompting the girl to suppress a grin. They were still as clueless as usual, almost as much as her twin brother. Meowth then put the watch to her mouth. "Hello," she heard a voice chime in. The voice sounded a lot like a bit like a person with a hint of a surfer's accent.

"Hi, it's me, Leaf," the girl stated.

"Hey Leaf, it's been a while since I've heard your voice. Anything I can do?"

"Uh, yes. Could you meet me in Japan? I'm coming over sooner than expected and I need to meet you when I arrive. Will you be there?"

"I'll be here waiting the moment you touch down," the voice at the other end of the line answered.

"Thanks," Leaf replied just before Meowth cut the line.

He then dropped the watch onto the ground, where Jessie then stomped on it. "Sorry, twerpette, but we can't have any rescuers tracking you, now can we?" Jessie whispered mockingly. She then tossed the other Poké Balls out onto the ground, leaving only the balls that had Leaf's Pokémon inside of them. They made certain to place seals on the balls so that they could not be opened even from the inside.

Once they reached the car, they shoved her into the back and closed the door, locking it, with the three of them getting in the front. Once they were inside, they closed the doors and started the car, the engine revving a few times before it actually started. Leaf almost laughed. It would have been embarrassing if the car had not started for the trio. Once the car was started, they began to ride off into the distance, taking the road towards the Lumiose Airport. As they drove, the two humans and Meowth removed their hats, revealing their true hairstyle and identities, with Meowth removing all of the clothing that he had worn.

"Well, that was easier than expected," Jessie commented as she drove towards the airport.

"Yes, it was," James answered, wondering if they should have been worried about the ease with which they had managed to capture Leaf. She was known as being one of the most powerful Pokémon Trainers in the world. He did not think that it would have been so easy for twerps like Ash, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie to capture and subdue her. There had to be more to it.

"Well who cares?" Meowth proclaimed. "We got her. And with her, we got promotions!"

"Maybe to full-time Executives!" Jessie squealed in delight. She then turned on the radio and began listening to music, which just happened to be Serena and Aria's _Moonlight Dance Party_. As the Rockets listened to the music, they began to tap their feet. As they did so, they did not notice that Leaf was also tapping her foot, though it was not to the beat of the music, but to that of her own heart. After fourteen rhythmic taps, a small light on the side of her shoe flashed for a brief instant, indicating that the tracking device was active. All she could do now was grin, for Team Rocket would be in for a big surprise in the not too distant future. After all, why pay a significant sum of money for a spur of the moment ticket on an obviously expensive supersonic jetliner all the way to Japan when she can get Team Rocket to take her there for free, as well as take out some high-ranking agents in the process?

Not too far away, a probe hovered above, out of sight of the party below as Team Rocket took custody of Leaf and put her in the car. On top of another roof, a Team Flare Grunt sat on the tile floor with a laptop computer in his lap and a second Team Flare Grunt, this one female, standing next to him. The female Grunt grinned.

"Looks like those fools are taking Leaf away," she said with a grin, looking over the male Grunt's shoulders. "They're doing our job for us."

"Let's not get carried away, yet," the male Grunt cautioned. "I'd wait until she's in the air and out of the country before making our big push against the professor and those kids that are with him."

"You're probably right," the female Grunt agreed, nodding. "Besides, it appears as if Blaziken Mask also survived the destruction of Lysandre Labs. The boss won't be pleased."

"I'll let the assault force know of these events so they can call in reinforcements before they launch their assault."

The female Grunt nodded as the male Grunt went to work informing the assault force of Meyer's survival, with the female Grunt taking over at the controls of the probe as it followed Jessie, James, Meowth, and Leaf, wanting to make sure that the World Pokémon League Champion was out of the country before they made revealed themselves.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Meanwhile, over near Geosenge Town, two masked figures, easily identifiable as Sina and Dexio, the real Sina and Dexio, flew towards the town riding on the backs of a Garchomp for Sina, and a Charizard for Dexio. They made followed the path over Route 10, flying over the many large stones that lined the path. The stones were the size of megaliths, each one would tower over Sina and Dexio if they set down among them. Down among the stones, they saw numerous people wearing orange uniforms, each of them having orange hair and orange sunglasses. The two assistants to Professor Sycamore grimaced. The men and women were most certainly members of Team Flare.

The duo directed their Pokémon towards a forest that lined each side of the trail and they landed among the trees, hoping to avoid detection by the Team Flare Grunts. Once they landed in the forest, they dismounted from their Pokémon and took out cell phones and examined what the Team Flare Grunts were doing, activating the cameras on them and recording what they were seeing.

Some of the Team Flare members were looking around the ground; others were scanning the skies. Yet others seemed to be carrying Poké Balls as well as unloading ropes. Some of the Grunts approached groups of other Team Flare members, seemingly Admins or scientists and opened their Poké Balls in front of them, letting out the Pokémon that had been confined inside. The Pokémon were of all types, species, and evolutionary levels. All of the Pokémon looked to have fainted.

"Well, well, this is quite a haul," one of the male Admins told the grunts that had placed the Pokémon before them. "Good thing they're all fainted."

"It wasn't easy," the Grunts told them. "We had to search all over for these guys. It's almost as if they know the end's about to come."

"I'll say," the female Admin stated. "The sentients of the world, save for those in Team Flare, have seen its last sunrise. At this time tomorrow, the world will once again be on the path to becoming the beautiful world it should be."

"Yeah, but what about those kids in Lumiose City?" one of the Grunts asked. "What if that girl escapes from her captivity? She could become a real problem later on."

"Not if we succeed tonight," the Admin answered. "Besides, she's headed to Kanto."

"What?" The Grunt gasped. "They're taking her to Kanto? One of the Mortality Trees is there! If she learns about it and/or finds it, she could destroy it and tell the other Trainers how to destroy the rest of them!"

"Calm down," the Admin admonished. "The Mortality Trees were always a contingency plan should we not be able to repair the Ultimate Weapon. Now that it's almost fixed and we're about to power it up, we won't need those trees after all."

"And what about the other kids in Lumiose City?" the Grunt asked. "That kid from Kanto is still there."

The Admins gave a sinister grin. "And that's where they'll be staying, permanently, along with that professor and superhero guy, what's his name, Blaziken Mask."

Sina and Dexio's eyes flashed as they heard that last statement by the Team Flare Admin. Team Flare seemed to be about to launch an attack on Professor Sycamore, Ash, and the others.

"We've got to warn them immediately," Dexio uttered softly as he looked over at Sina.

Sina nodded in agreement and the two assistants stepped back so they could make their phone call without being discovered. However, as they stepped back, they heard the faint rustling of bushes. Looking over towards the bushes, they soon saw no less than a dozen Team Flare Grunts jump out at them, each of them armed with rifles, an unusual piece of equipment for them, as well as a variety of Pokémon, mostly consisting of Croagunks, Golbats, Mightyenas, and Manectrics.

"Reach for the sky or you're dead," the lead Grunt bellowed in no uncertain terms, the Grunt pointing his weapon at the two assistants, along with the other Grunts.

Seeing one of the Grunts take their Poké Balls and return their Charizard and Garchomp to the balls, locking them so that they could not escape, the two assistants did as directed. "Now, place your Holo Casters and phones on the ground," the lead Grunt commanded.

The two did so, slowly taking off their Holo Casters and taking out their phones, so the Grunts would not immediately fire on them, and dropped them on the ground. The Grunts immediately opened fire on the phones and Holo Casters, the weapons fire shattering them to pieces. The lead Grunt then looked over at the Manectric and told it, "Manectric, use Thunderbolt on them."

The Manectric obeyed and fired off a Thunderbolt on Sina and Dexio, the bolt of electricity striking them, causing electricity to arc across their bodies. The two then collapsed onto the ground, unconscious as their bodies continued to spark. The Grunt then turned to the others and told them, "Pick them up and tie them to the stones. They won't be much, but it'll keep them out of our hair and make them useful at the same time."

The other Grunts obeyed and proceeded to stoop down and pick up the unconscious forms of Sina and Dexio. With that, they then dragged the two to the stones that lined the road so they could tie them to the stones and have them drain the two assistants of their life energy.

Back in the entry hallway of the lab, two of Professor Sycamore's assistants, Sophie and Cosette, were checking the lab to make sure that everything was in order after Leaf had been dealt with. Ash and the others had just returned to the lab and were in the back room, talking amongst themselves about the recent events as well as planning how they would find out what Team Flare was trying to do and how they would stop them. They had just finished checking up on the Pokémon that were staying at the lab and wanted to make sure that nothing was wrong before they turned in for the night.

As they were patrolling the central hallway that led to the interior of the lab, they saw several lights outside the lab. They looked to belong to vehicles that were pulling up the driveway. This puzzled them, for they knew that the professor had no one scheduled to come to the lab, especially at this time of night. As soon as the vehicles pulled up, they turned off and the lights went out, leaving the front dark. Heading over to peer through the windows, they were able to identify the vehicles as vans of some sort, causing them to grow concerned. When the doors on the vans opened, over a dozen people stepped out and began rushing towards the lab's entrance. They tried to identify the occupants of the vans that had disembarked, but they were unable to do so due to the lack of lighting. Wasting no time, the two assistants locked the front door and rushed back to the lab's interior, shutting the door to the interior as well and locking it.

When they entered the inner halls of the lab and saw Professor Sycamore and Meyer talking to Ash and his friends, the others looked over at them questioningly and Professor Sycamore asked, "Sophie, what's wrong?"

"Several vehicles just pulled up to the lab and disgorged over a dozen people," the assistant answered.

That immediately put Professor Sycamore and Meyer on alert. They stood up and told the kids, "You all go to the sanctuary in the rear. Go now. We'll cover you."

"Wait, what's going on?" Bonnie asked nervously.

"It's likely that Team Flare has come to finish off what it started earlier," Meyer answered.

"Then we're stayin' here with you," Ash declared. "We're not runnin' away."

"What do you think you're doing?" Professor Sycamore boomed. "This is a life or death situation! These people are possibly, even likely, here to kill us and either capture or kill the Pokémon at this lab. You have to be as far away from here as possible!"

"Team Flare has already launched an attack on the Pokémon League, killing Diantha, Siebold, Drasna, and Wikstrom," Meyer added. "They also killed Calem, Shauna, Trevor, and Tierno. Reports indicate that Alain, a Mega Evolution Trainer, and Mairin, his close friend, are also dead. The only one Team Flare failed to kill in all of their attacks was Leaf, and they sent an attack helicopter to try to take her out."

"Then why attack the lab?" Clemont asked. "Haven't they taken care of all of the known threats to their plans already?"

"They may want the Pokémon in the lab," Professor Sycamore surmised. "If they managed to turn them to Team Flare's side, especially Garchomp, it would be bad."

"No," Meyer answered. "They've come for us," the older man answered.

"But why?" Bonnie asked, not understanding why Team Flare would be after her father.

"Because they know who I am," Meyer answered. "They tried to kill Blaziken Mask by collapsing a base on top of him. Blaziken, Diantha, and her Mega Gardevoir were the only reason I survived that trap. Calem and Alain are dead. Reports indicate that Team Flare may be making a move on Shalour City, and Gurkinn and Korrina. They're likely doing their best to eliminate all Mega Evolution capable Trainers so they won't have to face them."

"Which means that they're after me, too," Ash stated ominously. He then turned to Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie and told them, "You three retreat right now. I'll fight with the professor and Meyer."

Serena's eyes flashed with shock and anxiety "But you'll be alone against a dozen attackers," she blurted.

"I'll stay with him," Clemont declared firmly, stepping forward and letting out his own Blaziken and Luxray. Ash proceeded to let out Greninja with Pikachu hopping down from his shoulder to stand in front of them.

"You two should retreat," Professor Sycamore told Serena and Bonnie. "Neither of you are battlers so you would likely be targeted first and not be able to adequately defend yourselves."

"But I have a strong enough Delphox and a Sylveon," Serena protested. "I won't just run away while the rest of you put your lives on the line."

"Please Serena, retreat with Bonnie and the others," Ash told her forcefully. "If worst comes to worst, Bonnie will need protection, something that you can provide. Now go before they know you're retreating."

Serena nodded hesitantly and eventually ushered Bonnie to a door in the back that led a back room that granted access to a secret exit should Ash and the others fail and they be forced to retreat. Once Serena and Bonnie were safely through the door, Ash let out the rest of his Pokémon and told them, "Okay everyone, form up. Greninja, you're up front. When that door opens, use Double Team to confuse your opponents and use Water Shuriken. The rest of you, hide behind Greninja and attack while the attackers are distracted by Greninja.

Each of Ash's Pokémon gave cries of affirmation and stood in front of the group, ready to intercept the attacking force coming for them. Ash focused his eyes on the door as he heard sounds come from behind it as there was a loud bang and a shudder that accompanied it. Whoever was outside had breached the lab's entrance.

"Team Two, scan the lab," he heard a deep male voice command. "Find the Pokémon. Team One, you're with me. When you find Blaziken Mask, the professor, and that Kanto Trainer, kill them. Also, don't hesitate to kill their Pokémon, either. With the Pokémon we've gotten from the lab, we should be good to go for strapping the Pokémon to the stones on Menhir Trail."

Professor Sycamore grimaced. He recognized Menhir Trail as being Route 10, the primary route that led to Geosenge Town, the location of the Ultimate Weapon, a weapon that was said to have been able to destroy the entire region of Kalos, if not the world. The most notable attribute of the route was that it was lined with hundreds of stones. They were said to have marked the graves of the Pokémon that had powered the Ultimate Weapon three thousand years ago. However, it had been discovered that they could absorb energy from Pokémon attached to them and could funnel the energy into the Ultimate Weapon. The problem was that the Ultimate Weapon had been destroyed, or so he had thought. Apparently, Lysandre was able to repair it, or possibly even rebuild it. The question was why no one had reported it being either repaired or rebuilt. It did not matter at the moment, though. All that mattered was getting out of this upcoming battle alive and stopping Team Flare from firing the weapon once and for all.

Professor Sycamore listened to the intruders discuss various topics amongst themselves as they seemed to search for any signs of resistance. "C'mon," a male with a deep voice bellowed. "The kids have to be here somewhere."

"Could Malva have been wrong?" another male answered, this one sounding younger.

"Don't let her know you said that," a female voice answered. "And no. She's not wrong. That Kanto Trainer and Serena are in here somewhere."

"Over here," a voice cried out to the others. This one sounded both louder and nearer than the others.

Ash gulped as the other intruders became completely silent. Meyer looked back at Ash and Clemont and said, "Get ready. Make every shot count."

Ash and Clemont both nodded as they approached their Pokémon in order to calm them. They had fought many enemies before, but none quite like this. These intruders surely meant to kill them and would not hesitate to murder any Pokémon that was in their way, either. They soon heard a Poké Ball open and one of the intruders command in a deep voice, "Litleo, use Flamethrower to burn down that door!"

Ash and Clemont watched as they heard the sounds of flame colliding with the door and the door begin to glow red. "Greninja, use Double Team right now and when Litleo comes through, use Water Shuriken to take it down," Ash directed. He then looked at Pikachu and continued, "Pikachu, you use Thunderbolt on any Trainers that come through. The rest of you, take your targets of opportunity and go, but only use ranged attacks unless they close the gap between us. That means that you'll have to stay back Hawlucha. You'll be the last line of defense."

Ash's Pokémon nodded, acknowledging the order and they stood ready to intercept the intruders and their Pokémon. Greninja immediately used Double Team to create a number of illusory copies. Ash's hope was that the enemy would waste fire on trying to deal with multiple Greninjas while allowing his other Pokémon to get free shots at the enemy and their Pokémon.

"Luxray you use Thunderbolt on any Pokémon that Ash is not engaging at the moment," Clemont directed. "However, be careful not to attack any Pokémon of the same type. That means don't engage any Electric-type Pokémon with Electric-type attacks. We can let the others deal with the Electric-types."

Clemont's Pokémon acknowledged the order and formed up with the rest of Ash's Pokémon, ready to support them. They would get their chance soon enough, for the door was quickly becoming white hot as pieces of metal fell from the door. More and more pieces of melted metal fell from the door and littered the ground, molten puddles of metal making a hazardous area near the door as the hole grew. Soon, the hole was large enough for the Pokémon to step through and unleash a Flamethrower on Ash and the other Pokémon defending him and his friends. However, Ash and his friends were able to strike first.

Greninja immediately hurled his Water Shuriken right at the Litleo, the shuriken of water, along with the numerous illusory shuriken, colliding with the Fire-type Pokémon knocking it out. Next came a Golbat, who was immediately met by, and taken down by, Pikachu's Thunderbolt. Two intruders wearing Team Flare grunt uniforms then stepped through. Unlike all other times Ash had encountered Team Flare, though, these Grunts were armed with firearms. They went to point their guns at Ash, only for Clemont's Luxray to go on the offensive, unleashing a Thunderbolt. Luxray's Thunderbolt struck the lead Team Flare Grunt, causing electricity to arc all over his body. The Grunt then fell to the floor, either unconscious or dead. Whatever his fate was, it was better than the second Team Flare grunt, who was immediately immolated by Meyer's Blaziken's Flamethrower. Blaziken soon went on the offensive, unleashing a Flamethrower through the hole in the door, causing the other intruders think twice before coming through. Two more screams were heard as the Flamethrower must have connected with two more Team Flare Grunts. Meyer gave a grim smile. A third of the attack force was dealt with. Meyer then tossed another Poké Ball into the air and cried, "Ampharos, go!"

The ball opened and immediately revealed Ampharos, a yellow bipedal Pokémon with stubby arms and a white belly, and a red jewel on its head and at the end of its tail. Once Ampharos was sent onto the line, it waited for Meyer's instructions.

Team Flare soon retaliated, a Grunt yelling, "Golbat, use Confuse Ray on the Pokémon in there!"

"Pikachu, don't give 'em a chance, use Thunderbolt!" Ash cried in counterpoint.

Pikachu complied and unleashed a Thunderbolt through the hole that managed to tag the Golbat as it was firing off a Confuse Ray. The defenders and their Pokémon managed to duck the Confuse Ray and the Thunderbolt was sufficient to take down the Golbat firing it.

"Ampharos, use Confuse Ray!" Meyer cried.

Ampharos acknowledged the order and fired a Confuse Ray through the hole in the door, the ray managing to connect with one of the Team Flare Grunts. The Grunt immediately gave a cry and the sound of gunfire could be heard as the grunt opened fire on anyone and everyone in his sight.

"What the…? What are you doing? Ahh!" one of the unfortunate Grunts cried as he was riddled with bullets.

Ash and the others simply remained motionless, doing everything to stay out of the view of the confused Grunt, perfectly content to let him take down the rest of the intruders. After a few more seconds, the gunfire stopped and the Team Flare Grunt came surging through the door, eager to avenge his crazed state by spilling the blood of Ash and his friends. "I'll murder you!" the Grunt cried.

Those would be his last words as Pikachu and the other Pokémon immediately fired off their ranged attacks on the Grunt, Pikachu, Luxray, and Ampharos unleashing Thunderbolts, while Meyer's Blaziken fired off a stream of Flamethrower. Needless to say, the Team Flare Grunt was annihilated by the attacks, the Grunt being reduced to ashes. With the Team Flare Grunts having fallen, Ash and the others tentatively took a step towards the door, wondering whether or not they should head out into the main hall.

Meyer and his Blaziken and Ampharos took the lead as they made their way through the door and examined the scene in the main hall. Meyer stood at the entrance and his head panned around the room, the man taking in the sight of the graphic slaughter of six Team Flare Grunts and numerous Pokémon, mostly consisting of Golbats, Litleos and also a few Houndours.

Soon, the door to another section of the lab opened and three Team Flare Grunts came through and were shocked to find their comrades lying on the ground, dead. Their eyes went wide with shock as they wondered what was going on. Before they could reach into their pockets to deploy their Pokémon, Meyer told Ampharos, "Ampharos, use Thunderbolt on the Team Flare Grunts. Take them out, but don't inflict too much physical damage on them. We may have a use for their uniforms."

Ampharos nodded and fired off its Thunderbolt at the Grunts, striking them squarely in the chest. Electricity arced across their bodies and they fell to the floor, either unconscious or dead. Once the Team Flare Grunts were neutralized, Meyer went up to them and took off their uniforms and their sunglasses. He would have use for them. He soon heard the radio of one of the fallen Grunts crackle and a voice speak.

"Flame One, come in. We heard weapons fire in there. Flame One, do you copy?"

"I copy," Meyer spoke over the radio.

"What happened?"

"We got in a fight," Meyer answered. "We've taken some casualties, but the mission was completed successfully."

"Did you kill the kids?"

"Most of them," Meyer answered.

"Whadaya mean 'most of them'?"

"When Team Two tried to capture the Pokémon, they resisted so we had to put them down. We'll need some of the kids and their surviving Pokémon to make up the difference. We could still kill them if you want…"

"No," the voice on the other end of the radio answered. "Lysandre needs all of the energy he can get to power the weapon. It's not the best option, but attaching some humans and their Pokémon could make up the difference."

"Understood," Meyer answered. "Anything else you need."

"That should be all. Clean the place up and come back out with the prisoners. Malva won't be able to cover up the attack for long and Lysandre will want the place spotless when the police do investigate."

"Understood. We shouldn't be too much longer," Meyer answered.

He then shut off the radio and went back into the lab's interior hall. When he arrived, Professor Sycamore stood up and asked, "What's the status out there? Are they all beaten?"

Meyer nodded. "It's finished and I also learned what we already suspected; Lysandre's still alive and is calling the shots. Even worse, Malva's still working for Team Flare." The professor and the others gave a melancholy sigh. They had suspected as much given the nature of the recent reports of the Mortality Trees cutting out as well as the cutting off of the report of the deaths of Diantha and the rest of the Elite Four.

"Then that means that the sole surviving member of the Elite Four is working with Team Flare," the professor said, stating the obvious.

"Probably why they wanted everyone here dead," Meyer surmised.

Professor Sycamore nodded in agreement.

"So, what's our next play?" Ash asked.

"Funny you should ask that," Meyer answered. "I answered for one of the Flares that didn't make it that the mission was accomplished but that we needed some of the kids alive in order to make up the energy for the Pokémon that were 'killed'. I think we should play the parts of the TF Grunts," he told them slyly. "It should allow us to get past their security and over to Geosenge Town without raising any alarms until it's too late."

"So who's gonna play the role of Team Flare Grunts?" Ash asked.

"We've got four relatively undamaged uniforms," Meyer told them. He then looked down at the Team Flare Grunt that had first entered, only to be electrocuted upon entry and he saw that the Grunt looked young, possibly a young teenager. "That uniform looks like it could fit you," Meyer suggested.

"And I've also got a Talonflame, a part Fire-type Pokémon, which fits the 'Flare' theme, so I could pass as a member," Ash added.

"And my dad has Blaziken," Clemont added, stepping forward.

"We'll have to go quickly," Meyer said. "And there's one more thing. I also told them that there were survivors. Someone will have to play the role of captive."

"I'll do that," Serena blurted out from behind, emerging from the inner sanctum.

"Wait," Ash blurted in a concerned tone, looking over at Serena.

"I'm the obvious choice to play the damsel in distress," she answered. "I'm a Pokémon Performer and idol, not a battler. It would make sense that I'd go down easily."

"I'll go too," Bonnie declared.

"No," Meyer and Clemont retorted forcefully.

"But…" the girl began to protest.

"Your father and brother are right," Professor Sycamore interjected sagely. "You're too young to be a Pokémon Trainer and playing the role of captive will be dangerous since you'll be going into the Pyroar's den. The best place for you to be is back at the lab, away from the danger so that your father, brother, and friends don't have to worry about you."

"But I want to fight too."

Meyer then went over to Bonnie and explained the situation to her. "Bonnie, we're going to be going someplace that will quickly erupt into a war zone. The last thing I want is for you to get involved in that sort of fight. It won't be like regular Pokémon Battles. This will involve fights to the death, kind of like the fight we fought here, or the battle earlier where Leaf shot down a Team Flare attack helicopter. I have a Mega Evolution in Mega Blaziken. I can give Ampharos to Clemont so he can Mega Evolve him, too. Professor Sycamore will have Garchomp. We're going to be risking our lives and not all of us may make it back."

"But that's all the more reason why I should go with you," Bonnie protested.

"And that's the reason why you must remain here, safe at the lab with Sophie and Cosette," Clemont explained, coming in to support his father. "You're too young to be a Pokémon Trainer and while you've seen us battle in the past, you lack actual experience in a battle. Even Serena, a Pokémon Performer, has more battle experience than you. If you joined us, we'd be too worried about you and that could cause us to miss things that could result in us losing or worse, dying."

Ash and Serena looked on as the family discussed the situation with Bonnie, wisely staying out of the discussion. Ash then looked over at Serena and asked, "Are _you_ okay with this plan?"

Serena nodded. "Sure. This is our greatest chance to stop Team Flare once and for all. And, as I said before, it would make more sense for me to be a damsel than you."

"But you're an actress," Ash replied. "You may be able to play the part of a Team Flare operative better than me."

"But I'm not a battler, which means that it's easier for me to be subdued without being killed," Serena contested.

"Okay," Ash said hesitantly before eventually relenting. He paused before adding, "Well, I'd better put on the Team Flare uniform."

He then went to put on the fallen Flare's uniform. Once it was on, he noticed that it was loose in several areas, but not so loose that it could not be worn. The main issue was making it seem as if his hair were orange, for he realized all of these Grunts had orange hair. He guessed that it was colored. Still, if time was of the essence, and they had to assume it was, coloring his hair would take too long. Fortunately, Professor Sycamore came out with a series of wigs of the proper color that would fit him and Clemont. There were also wigs that would fit Meyer. Clemont, Meyer, and Professor Sycamore then changed into their own Team Flare uniforms, making certain to resemble their fallen counterparts as closely as possible.

Once they were changed, they all returned their Pokémon to their Poké Balls. After that, Serena stepped forward, placing her arms behind her back. Ash grabbed her shoulders and gently directed her towards the exit, followed by Clemont, Meyer, and Professor Sycamore, all of who were in Team Flare uniforms.

They made their way out of the lab and proceeded to make their way over to one of the vans parked outside. The lead van flashed its lights and they directed Serena over to it, making it look as if she were their captive. Taking her around to the back door, they saw the door open with a Team Flare grunt standing in the entrance. He looked at Serena and a frown crossed his face.

"That's all?" he asked.

"The others fought hard and had to be put down," Meyer answered in a deep voice. "We did get some Pokémon, though."

"Okay, get in."

Ash ushered Serena into the van, with Professor Sycamore, Meyer, and Clemont following them in. Once they got in, the Team Flare Grunt closed the door and they took their seats.

"So, where's everyone else?" the Grunt asked Ash.

"Dead," Ash answered, deepening his voice so he would not be recognized as a kid. "We took severe casualties in the attack."

"So it wasn't worth it after all," the Grunt lamented.

"Well, we killed the only threats left," Meyer told him. "With Calem, Diantha, and Ash dead, no one else can provide any meaningful resistance to us."

"What about Leaf?" the Grunt asked.

"I heard the authorities got her. Probably in the air, headin' back to Kanto right now," Meyer answered.

"Good," the Grunt answered. "At least we won't have to deal with her."

The group made no comment as the van started and they got underway for the long trip to Route 10 and Geosenge Town. The van was followed by the second van that had launched the attack. Ash and the others only hoped that the surviving occupants in the second van did not have any Psychic-type Pokémon that could scan them and identify the deception.

Meanwhile, Jessie, James, and Meowth pulled into the Lumiose Airport. They drove towards what looked to be an abandoned hangar off the main road, away from the other hangars and runways. As they approached the hangar, a voice sounded over a speaker in the car. "Attention Agents Jessie, James, and Meowth. The plane has landed in Hangar X and we are awaiting your arrival."

"Wow, that was fast," Meowth commented causally. "I didn't think they'd get here so soon."

Leaf could hardly believe her luck. It appeared as if Team Rocket had brought a supersonic plane with them. This would allow her to get back to Kanto much sooner than she had expected. All she had to do was wait for the opportune moment to make her escape, and she knew exactly when that moment would be.

The car drove up to the hangar, the light from the car's headlights shining off the shiny gray metal doors. Jessie immediately honked the horn, signaling their arrival. Immediately after the honk, the doors began to rise, a clank sounding as they gears began to turn and lift of the large metal doors. The grinding of gears was heard as the doors rose, slowly revealing the aircraft that Team Rocket would use to leave Kalos. Indeed, just as Leaf had surmised, it was a supersonic passenger jet plane. It was not very large, nothing like U.S. Air Force One or any of the other jets flown by powerful politicians and dignitaries, but it served the purposes of Team Rocket well enough. It looked to be relatively new so it was definitely not something that would be seen as expendable. In addition, though, it looked just like the type of private plane that a rich businessman would use, thus it would allay any suspicion that it was being used for anything illicit.

The boarding ramp lowered as Jessie, James, and Meowth approached. They slowed their car and eventually came to a stop, turning off the headlights and then the car. They got out of the car and saw a figure walking down the boarding ramp. Jessie grimaced as she recognized the blonde-haired figure as being Domino, and elite Team Rocket Agent also known as Double-Oh-Nine, and had the nickname, "Black Tulip", named for the cut black tulip that she held in her hand. The tulip could shoot out electrical bolts and stun Pokémon, as well as extend into a staff. She wore the classic black Team Rocket uniform with a red R on her chest. She was flanked by two Team Rocket Grunts, each of who had several Poké Balls clipped to their belts. In addition, though, these Grunts were also armed with rifles, a rare weapon for members of Team Rocket, much less any other Grunt in a Pokémon World criminal organization.

"Do you have her?" Domino asked curtly, almost glaring at the three Rockets. Despite their promotions, she did not view them as competent members of the organization, seeing them as more of a liability than an asset.

Jessie went to the back of the car and opened the door. Reaching in, she dragged Leaf out and shoved her towards the front of the car, causing her to stumble forward and fall. The two Grunts, Jessie, and Meowth laughed as the girl fell forward onto her face. For a moment, Leaf considered feigning crying to make them even cockier but she decided against it, knowing that Domino knew all of her tricks.

Jessie grinned as she presented Leaf to Domino. "Here she is," she told the young woman, who looked to only be in her early twenties, if that. "Alive, even."

"The twerps even helped us capture her," James added, bringing a scowl from Jessie, but a slight grin from Domino.

The young woman came over to meet Trio and looked over a Leaf to make certain that her binds were all in place. She checked the rope and did not notice the frayed areas near Leaf's hands. The rope binding her feet was still strong as well. James then went over to Domino and took out a couple Poké Balls, each of which belonged to Leaf.

"Her Pokémon," he said, presenting the balls to her.

Domino grinned and took the two Poké Balls. James then presented the other four to her and she took them, clipping the locked balls to her belt. She then looked back at the Rockets with a cryptic smile. "I must say I'm surprised. I was shocked when I heard that you three had captured Leaf. Granted, your explanation of Ash and the others betraying her makes more sense, but still. I would have thought that she'd have escaped by now."

"Ha, ha, we're better than that," Jessie proclaimed arrogantly. This prompted a frown from Domino.

"Don't get too cocky, Jessie. We won't be in the clear until she's dead."

The two Rocket Grunts then walked down from the ramp and approached the group, the two gripping their rifles tightly as they approached, almost as if they were awaiting the order to kill the bound girl lying on the floor in front of them. "So, do you want us to do it here?" one of the Grunts asked in a deep voice.

"No," Domino snapped, taking the Grunts aback. "There are other hangars not too far away and someone could possibly hear the gunshot and report it to the authorities. We need to be as far away from this place as possible when we kill her. If that professor and Ash have a single brain cell between them, it won't take them long to figure out that they were deceived and that the evidence of Leaf's crimes was fabricated. We'll kill her somewhere where neither her body, nor any DNA evidence will ever be found."

"Then why not do it over the ocean?" the other Grunt suggested.

"That's exactly what we're gonna do," Domino answered. "No one'll ever find her body in the ocean, especially since we'll tie weights to her legs when we dump her in.

Domino then snapped her fingers and pointed towards Leaf. The two Rockets took that as their cue to go over to Leaf and haul her to her feet, each one grabbing her arms and lifting her up. Domino then turned to Jessie, James, and Meowth and told them, "Take that car somewhere away from here and torch it. We can't afford to take any chances here. Once you're done, get back here quickly. We're taking off immediately once the startup sequence is complete."

"Roger," the Trio answered in unison, saluting Domino. She then handed them a suitcase.

"This is what we'll use to scuttle the car. It's of the same make as a demolition charge that was designed by Lysandre Labs here in Kalos, so it'll look like Team Flare did it."

"Understood," the Trio answered in unison again. They then hurried to drive the car to an empty lot not too far away from the hangar, but close enough to another one that was still in use, though currently unoccupied. Once the Trio parked the car, they got out and James took out a suitcase and opened it. Sure enough, there was a demolition charge inside.

"Set it to fifteen minutes," Jessie told him. "That should be long enough for us to take off and be well away from here when that bomb goes off."

"Right," James answered, setting the charge to fifteen minutes. As they were doing so, they could hear the jet's engines starting up. That was their cue to head back to the hangar as quickly as possible so they would not be left behind.

They quickly ran back to the hangar as fast as their legs could carry them, knowing full well that Domino would not hesitate to leave them behind. If anything, she would take off sooner than normal so that they would be trapped there. As they reached the hangar, they saw Domino turning around, about to head into the plane to tell the Grunt at the top of the ramp to close it. She almost frowned as she saw Jessie, James, and Meowth fast approaching. The Trio had to cover their ears due to the noise of the plane's engines.

They soon reached the ramp and ran up it, Jessie boarding first, followed by James, with Meowth bringing up the rear. Domino then stepped back and turned to the Grunt, nodding, indicating that it was time to go. He then retracted the boarding ramp and the hatch closed. Once the hatch was closed, the plane plodded forward and slowly turned towards the hangar's exit, towards a short runway. Fortunately, this plane was capable of short takeoffs so the length of the runway would be no problem. Once the plane was lined up with the exit, it accelerated out of the hangar and down the runway. Once it had reached its proper speed, it took off and rose into the air. Once it had reached its proper altitude, the plane adjusted its heading so that it was pointed directly at Kanto. Then, it accelerated and went supersonic, the sonic blast emanating from the jet shattering the windows of the cars, houses, and buildings on the ground below.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

Meanwhile, Ash, Clemont, Meyer, and Professor Sycamore rode in the back of a Team Flare van in silence, all of them dressed in Team Flare uniforms, sitting next to a Team Flare Grunt that truly _was_ a part of the evil organization. Serena, playing the role of captive, sat in silence, looking around concerned, along with some scowls of defiance. Every single bump caused her to smirk and utter, "I hope your tires go flat."

"Shut up," the Team Flare Grunt, the real one, would bellow, though he refrained from striking her, for the time being.

Ash and the others did nothing to intervene, not wanting to blow their cover. They simply watched as the Team Flare Grunt sat back down and remained still, keeping constant watch on Serena. His orange sunglasses prevented them from seeing his eyes, but they could feel him eying Serena appraisingly. Ash soon took off his own sunglasses, finding it difficult to see in the dark van with the glasses on.

"Hey, what are you doin'?" the Team Flare Grunt snapped. "Glasses stay on at all times."

"C'mon, it's impossible to see in these things in the dark," Ash complained, staying in character. "For the life of me, the reason I think we lost so many people in the attack was because they couldn't see. Wouldn't be surprised if that's why the helicopter pilot missed on his strafing run on Leaf, too."

"The rules for us Grunts are simple. One of 'em is to keep the sunglasses on at all times. You can take 'em off when prompted by a superior."

"Fine," Ash answered, putting the glasses back on, trying to sound perturbed by the Flare's tone. "Just don't blame me if that girl escapes cause we can't see a thing with these things on," he mumbled barely audibly to Professor Sycamore, who was sitting right next to him.

"What was that?" the real Team Flare Grunt asked.

"Nothing," Ash answered, trying to not look too nervous. One of the advantages of the glasses was that they could not see his eyes, so it would be harder to determine his expression, and whether or not he was more anxious than he should have been had he been a real member of Team Flare. He surreptitiously glanced over at Professor Sycamore, Meyer, and Clemont and while their faces were blank, he could tell that they were just as nervous as he was. This was a dangerous mission and if they were discovered, it could quickly end in disaster for the whole group.

The trip to Route 10 took a few hours, making it so that the group arrived close to midnight. The group was silent the rest of the way to the route, Ash looking around at the scenery, trying to not only look interested, but also see if there were any landmarks so that he would have a good idea of the path that Team Flare took to get to Route 10. He took note as they passed through both the Connecting Cave as well as Cyllage City. He wanted to make certain that if he needed to, he could give the police directions to where they were located.

They eventually reached a checkpoint that led directly to Route 10. Two Jeeps, each with cannons mounted on their tops, and six Team Flare Grunts, along with two Admins, each of who were armed, along with having a group of Golbats as well as some Litleos already deployed, stood at the checkpoint and turned to spy the oncoming vans. Ash stared at the cannons on the jeeps, figuring them to be more than strong enough to pierce the armor of the van they were riding in. He did not like this one bit. If those jeeps opened up on them, they were dead, and while they were riding inside of a Team Flare van, he got the feeling that if their infiltration were discovered, that the gunners in the jeeps would have no problem consigning their comrades in the vans to death if it got rid of some enemies of Team Flare.

The van came to a stop and one of the Grunts stepped forward towards the driver's side of the van. When he arrived, the driver rolled down the window.

"What have ya got?" the Grunt bellowed curtly.

"A prisoner and some Pokémon," the driver answered.

"From where?"

"Lumiose City," came the driver's answer. "We captured that Serena girl and some Pokémon."

"Well, let us take a look," the Grunt sighed as he directed two other Grunts to go to the rear of the van and examine everything to make sure that everything was on the up and up. They could not be too careful, especially now that they were so close to completing their goals. If anyone who had discovered their true intentions was going to make a move, now would be the time.

The Grunts went to the rear of the van and opened it up, looking inside and finding the four 'Team Flare Grunts' sitting with the prisoner, and a grunt sitting a few feet away. They looked over at Serena and gave sinister grins.

"Looks like we've got a famous one here," one of the Grunts said, looking over Serena and recognizing her from the Pokémon Showcase Master Class competition. "Kalos Queen, if I remember correctly. Maybe she can give us a performance."

"Yeah, well, don't get your hopes up," the other Grunt cautioned, casting a disapproving glance at his partner. "She's been sentenced to the stones."

"Really?" the first Grunt sighed.

The other Grunt nodded.

"Man, what a waste," he muttered as he and his cohort looked over the rest of the interior of the van to see if there was anything out of place or suspicious. When they felt that everything was good, they closed the door and gave the grunt next to the driver a thumbs up. The grunt on the driver's side saw the sign and told the driver, "Okay, everything seems to check out. Head to the designated area and drop off your cargo."

"Will do," the driver answered. He then rolled the window up and proceeded to continue his drive, taking the van to Route 10.

When he entered Route 10, Ash and the others looked out at the scenery and saw numerous menhirs lining the trail. Tied to the stones were large numbers of Pokémon. The Pokémon looked very frail and weak, almost as if they were on the verge of death. Several Pokémon were tied to each stone. Most of the Pokémon were small Pokémon and/or pre-evolved Pokémon, though there were also several fully evolved Pokémon with some stones siphoning energy off energy from large Pokémon the size of a Snorlax. The group also noticed that the stones appeared to be glowing, something that they had not seen before. Ash looked over at the Team Flare Grunt sitting alongside the group and they could see him grinning.

"It won't be long now," the Grunt said in anticipation. "An hour or two at most."

"An hour or two until what?" Serena asked for the group.

The Grunt turned to her and gave her a sadistic grin. "An hour or two until the Ultimate Weapon is at full power and fires. Once that happens, all sentient life in the world will die. All humans, Pokémon, and Cetaceans will perish when the weapon fires; that is, everyone save for Team Flare and those we deem as worthy of survival. Then, the world will finally be beautiful once more without sentients to screw it up."

"You don't seem to like people very much, do you?" Clemont noted.

"Nah, not really," the Grunt answered. "My parents were these conservative fools, always wanting me to be nice and friendly, be careful, and live by a set of morals and family values. They didn't want me to have any fun, go out to parties, drink, or have sex until marriage. I mean really, how square can you get? And the others at my school were little better. There was this one girl, pretty as ever, who was just as square and moral as my parents. I tried to ask her out and she refused! What's worse is that she married the nice guy, strong, but nice."

As the Grunt was venting his frustrations, Ash could not help but notice that all of the people this Grunt seemed to dislike or disrespect were actually pretty good people with good morals and family values that they actually practiced. If this Grunt was the type of person that Lysandre viewed as someone as worthy of survival, then if he were somehow successful in killing off everyone else, it wouldn't be long before humanity on Earth went extinct, for this Grunt appeared to be the embodiment of everything that was wrong with humanity before its Spiritual Revolution at the end of World War Three. There would almost certainly be conflicts with each other for remaining resources or if two people wanted the same exact thing. Suddenly, Ash could not shake the feeling that Team Flare were nothing more than pawns for Lysandre, just like Team Galactic was with Cyrus. Professor Sycamore gave a covert incline of his head that brought Clemont, Meyer, and Ash over to him.

"We'd better be careful," he whispered cautiously to the group. "I have a feeling that Lysandre may be playing all of the Grunts and possibly even the Admins and scientists for fools. After all, he's already killed Xerosic, one of his chief scientists."

The rest of the group nodded, taking heed of Professor Sycamore's warning. It was clear now that they were expendable to Lysandre if needed. The group continued to look out the window as the van made its way along the road passing the stones. There must have been hundreds of stones lining the route, possibly thousands if they went a few rows deep. Almost each stone had at least one Pokémon tied to it. How had Team Flare managed to get so many Pokémon?

"Magnificent, isn't it?" the Flare asked, looking over at Ash and the other 'Team Flare Grunts'. "These stones are draining the energy of the Pokémon to power the Ultimate Weapon, just as that AZ guy used the life force of so many Pokémon to restore his Pokémon, and later destroy Kalos, three thousand years ago. That guy was a genius. Key word; was. He was also immortal, but that didn't make him bulletproof."

The Grunt then gave a sinister laugh that greatly unnerved Ash and the others. The Grunt seemed to notice the unease of Ash and his companions. "What's wrong?" he laughed mockingly.

"You really seem to relish death and destruction," Clemont noted, trying to sound not too surprised when he was actually shocked that people like this still existed.

"And why shouldn't I?" the Grunt retorted. "I'm gonna survive when everyone else on this pathetic world won't. I'll be the one with the last laugh. Me and the rest of Team Flare."

Ash and the others suppressed their scowls, managing to hide their true feelings. Serena, however, did nothing to hide her disgust towards the Team Flare Grunt.

"You're a monster!" she accused. "You're a nobody who gets off on the suffering of others."

"Yeah," the Grunt admitted openly. "And you're gonna be joining the rest of the world in death, pretty thing."

"Can it, you!" the driver soon bellowed. "We're almost at the stone. Make sure the prisoner's properly secured."

"Right," the Grunt answered as he went over to Serena and leered at her. Ash wanted to hit him and knock him out of action right now but he knew that if he did that, then their ruse would be discovered and Team Flare would converge on their position. Given how little this Grunt seemed to respect life, he doubted that Team Flare would have any problems sacrificing a few Grunts if it took out the last vestiges of resistance to their plans.

The Grunt gripped Serena's arms and pulled her up harshly. He then placed her hands behind her back and bound them with rope. He then gagged her with a white cloth and shoved her back down. "Now be good and stay there until we reach our destination," he said, leering at her the whole time.

The van then continued to make its way through Route 10. After fifteen more minutes of non-stop travel through the route, albeit at a slow pace, they eventually reached their destination: a menhir stone that seemed to be among the last stones on the trail, for the outskirts of Geosenge Town were visible to the naked eye. Off in the distance, the van's driver could see the massive Ultimate Weapon, already having been deployed. The top of the weapon had not yet split into its flower-like formation, which would have signaled that it was preparing to fire, but they could see the top of the weapon glowing, indicating that it was charging up and that it would be ready to fire at some point in the future. And if the weakness of the Pokémon tied to the stones was any indication, it appeared as if it was not too far away from being ready to fire.

Eventually they reached a line of stones that did not have many Pokémon tied to them. The van slowed down, eventually coming to a complete stop. The Team Flare Grunt in the back of the van smirked at Serena as the van stopped and said, "We're here, honey. Now, you'll be able to help Team Flare fulfill its own dream."

The van then shut off and the driver's door opened. The driver stepped out of the van and took out a Poké Ball. He tossed the ball into the air and when it opened, a Croagunk, a dark blue bipedal Pokémon that resembled a poison dart frog, sprang forth from the ball and landed next to the driver.

"Croagunk, you make sure that the captive doesn't try anything stupid," the driver directed.

"Croa," the Croagunk croaked, sounding much like a frog as it spoke.

It followed the driver to the back and stood at a distance as the driver opened the rear door. The driver looked in and saw Serena sitting between Ash, Clemont, Professor Sycamore, and Meyer, completely unaware of the fact that he was about to let the enemy infiltrate deep behind Team Flare lines.

"Alright, let's move out!" the driver called. "We've gotta bind this girl and any of her surviving Pokémon to that stone over there." He then pointed to an unoccupied menhir a few dozen yards away.

"Right on it," the Team Flare Grunt, the real one, affirmed as he rose and went over to Serena to direct her out of the van. Ash and the others joined him, doing their best to play along. Serena wanted to look back to see if they would give any indication as to when she should make her move, or if they were the ones going to make the move and initiate the battle. However, she knew that if she did so, she would risk their cover so she decided that it would be best to simply let them take the lead. She felt that it would not be long now, for they could not afford to let her be tied to the stones, especially if the Pokémon that they had seen along the way were any indication of what would happen to her if she was.

They directed Serena out of the van and half guided, half pushed her along the grassy trail that led to the stones. While Ash and his friends did not want to get rough with Serena, the driver and Team Flare Grunt did not have that problem. While they were not needlessly rough with her, they made absolutely certain that she perished any thoughts of being able to escape. While she, in and of herself, was not that important in the grand scheme of things for the powering of the Ultimate Weapon, they did not want to risk screwing anything up and giving the enemies of Team Flare a chance to stop them.

After a while, they reached the stone that the driver had pointed to. It was a large stone that was almost twice Ash's height. It was gray and had a rough surface texture to it. Ash could hardly fathom this stone as being a power source for the Ultimate Weapon, something that he voiced out loud.

"This thing helps power the Ultimate Weapon?" he asked, almost in disbelief.

"I know," the van driver said, echoing his junior. "Still, these stones'll drain the life from anyone who touches them and siphon it off to the Ultimate Weapon." He looked into the distance at the weapon over the horizon and continued, "When the 'petals' of the weapon open like a flower, that'll be the indication that it's fully charged and ready to fire."

"I thought that it only needed a relatively small amount of energy to fire," the Team Flare Grunt said, looking at the weapon and seeing its top glowing.

"Only if your goal is the destruction of a town or a smaller area of land," the driver corrected, his knowledge indicating that he was no mere Grunt. "The more you charge it, the more damage the weapon'll inflict when fired. We want it so that it kills everyone that's not Team Flare. We're talkin' about continent to planetary level weaponry here, especially since we've gotta take out the whales in the oceans too since we don't want to take any chances that sentients could ruin the Earth again."

"But what about the humans that are off world?" Meyer inquired. "What's to keep them from coming back and repopulating the Earth, making everything here for naught?"

"We are," the driver answered. "That's the mission of Team Flare. And with the Ultimate Weapon, we'll be able to do just that. The truth is, we probably have enough power to fire the weapon and accomplish our primary objective right now. The issue is, as you have stated, is the fact that the Galactic Federation is still out there, as are almost sixteen billion humans and however many other sentients may covet this world."

"So, how's that going to work?" Professor Sycamore asked. "We don't seem to have the numbers to keep the entire world free of sentients."

"That's what the Mortality Trees are for," the driver answered.

"What are those?" Ash asked, almost instantly regretting having asked the question.

"What were you doing at the meetings?" the driver boomed. "The Mortality Trees are a series of trees that were engineered to drain the life of the world to a point where it would not be usable by any extraterrestrial but where life could still replenish itself."

The group wanted to ask where the trees were but they felt that they had pushed it far enough merely asking what they were. Had they asked where the trees were, the driver would have known for sure that something was up. Even now, the driver cast a suspicious glance at them and Ash and the others looked about the scenery nervously. Serena began to grow even more nervous than she had been before, knowing that if Ash and the others were exposed, they would be facing incredible odds and while all of them, except her, were Pokémon Trainers of some sort, Professor Sycamore, Meyer, and Clemont did not have full teams at their disposal at the moment, with Professor Sycamore only having Garchomp, and Meyer only having Blaziken and Ampharos at their disposal at the moment. Even with their ability to Mega Evolve, especially if Meyer let Clemont have Ampharos, it would be long odds against what was likely the majority of Team Flare. Still, the neither the driver, nor the Grunt took any action against them and merely went to direct Serena towards the stone.

Serena took a deep breath. This was it. They would have to execute the attack quickly if they wanted to take down these two Flares before they got off a warning to the others. Ash surreptitiously nodded at her, telling her that the time had come. Clemont, Professor Sycamore, and Meyer also glanced at each other and then back at Ash. The time to fight had finally come. The driver went over to Serena and tried to shove her against the stone so the Grunt could tie her to it and it could begin draining her of her life energy to power the Ultimate Weapon.

"Get on over there," he growled. "You may not be much in the grand scheme of things, but you're somethin' and the boss wanted you dead anyway, so this'll kill two birds with one stone."

Just as the driver attempted to shove Serena to the stone, Meyer rushed him and knocked him to the ground.

"Run!" he cried to Serena.

Serena ran from the driver only to be grabbed by the Team Flare Grunt. "You're not gettin' away that easy girly," he snarled, glaring at the girl as he turned to drag her back to the stone.

That was Ash's cue to take action. Opening his Team Flare jacket, he revealed Pikachu, who jumped from Ash's chest towards the Team Flare Grunt.

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail on the Team Flare Grunt!" Ash commanded.

Pikachu nodded and his tail began to glow a bright silver as he spun through the air and brought the tail down on the Team Flare Grunt's head. The blow instantly knocked the Grunt unconscious, the Grunt falling the ground and landing with a thud. Ash checked on the Grunt and saw his chest rising and falling, a clear sign that he was still alive.

As for Meyer and Professor Sycamore, they quickly overpowered the driver, wrestling him to the ground. Meyer then performed a chokehold on him, gripping the driver's neck until he lost consciousness. Meyer then took the driver's side arm, a slugthrower pistol, and placed it in his belt.

With the Team Flare driver having been subdued, Meyer and Professor Sycamore glanced over to Ash and Serena and saw that they had also dealt with their Grunt as well. Meyer then produced some rope and bound the hands and feet of the Team Flare driver together and gagged him. A part of him thought that it would be a good idea to tie the driver to one of the stones, but he decided against that, not wanting the Ultimate Weapon to charge up any faster than it already was. Meyer and Professor Sycamore then went over to the Team Flare Grunt and they bound his hands and feet and gagged him as well. They then went to hide the bound Flares behind a series of smaller stones that did not have any Pokémon attached to them just yet.

Once the Flares had been dealt with, the group looked over at the Ultimate Weapon and saw that the whole top of the weapon was glowing. Cracks then formed on the weapon and the top then split into a series of crystal-like structures that spread out much like the petals of a flower.

"They're not far from firing the weapon," Professor Sycamore uttered in dread. "If it fires now…" the Professor left the last part unsaid.

"That's not gonna happen," Ash declared forcefully.

"Pika!" Pikachu echoed.

"We may be able to slow things down," Meyer told them. Looking at Ash and Clemont, he told them, "You two go into Geosenge Town and try to either deactivate the weapon or destroy it outright. Professor Sycamore, Serena, and I will free as many of the Pokémon as possible."

"Wait," Serena called out, indicating that she did not agree with the plan.

"What is it?" Meyer asked, wondering why she seemed to disagree with the plan since it was the only real option they had.

"Delphox is part Psychic-type. I should go with Ash and have Delphox assist him and his other Pokémon in trying to destroy that weapon," she answered. As she gave her answer, a feeling welled up inside of her that she had never felt before. She could scarcely describe it. It was as if this was what she was meant to do. Could _this_ have been her destiny all along? Regardless, she knew that she had to do everything she could to try to save the world.

"Serena's right," Ash agreed, nodding and smiling over at Serena. "If the Ultimate Weapon has any defenses that would make a direct attack ineffective, psychic powers may be able to get around them and allow us to either disable or destroy the weapon."

"Alright," Meyer said, seeing Ash and Serena's logic. "Professor Sycamore and I will be here freeing the Pokémon and keeping Team Flare distracted. You three go and destroy that weapon."

"Right," Ash, Clemont, and Serena replied in unison.

"Pika!" Pikachu declared.

"One more thing," Meyer said. He then tossed Ampharos's Poké Ball to Clemont, along with a Mega Pendant and Key Stone. "Take these," he directed his son. "Ampharos is also capable of Mega Evolution and I have told him to Mega Evolve when you tell him to."

"But Dad, what about you?" Clemont blurted.

"I'll be fine," he answered. "I've got Blaziken with me."

Clemont was not so sure, but he knew that they could not waste any more time talking when the Weapon was so close to being ready to fire. They were about to head out when several streams of flame flew past their heads, missing them by inches. Pikachu reflexively turned around and fired off a Thunderbolt in the direction of the attackers. When the rest of the group turned around, they saw a contingent of Team Flare Grunts along with a few scientists and Admins as well. They had deployed a variety of Pokémon but most common were Golbat, Litleo, and Croagunk.

"Get going," Professor Sycamore told the trio. "We'll hold them off." He then took out his sole Poké Ball and opened it, revealing Garchomp, a Mega stone on her chest. "Garchomp go. This is it!" he declared.

"Blaziken, go!" Meyer cried in echo of Professor Sycamore. He tossed out the Poké Ball, which opened to reveal Meyer's Blaziken, who had a Mega Stone on his chest.

Ash and Serena wasted no time headed towards Geosenge town, Pikachu firing off a Thunderbolt onto two Team Flare Grunts that were blocking the pathway leading into the town, rendering them unconscious and possibly worse. Ash and Serena dashed past their still sparking bodies, but Clemont hesitated for a bit, seeing the army of Team Flare forces march towards his father and Professor Sycamore.

Meyer saw his son hesitate and he turned and cried, "Go! We've got this!"

Clemont eventually nodded and turned and followed Ash, deploying Diggersby and Luxray in the process. His Pokémon then followed him as he rushed to catch up to Ash and Serena, knowing that it would take all three of them to stop the Ultimate Weapon and get past whatever traps Team Flare had set.

Meanwhile, up in the skies above the Pacific Ocean, not too far away from the Kanto Region of Japan, Team Rocket's supersonic jet carried Leaf, as well Jessie, James, Meowth, Domino, and several Team Rocket Grunts. Three of the Grunts were in the passenger area, keeping a close watch on Leaf. The Grunts on the plane leered at the girl as she sat in the chair, her hands and feet bound, rendering her unable to move. One of the Grunts licked his lips perversely and sadistically, Leaf taking note of which Grunt did so, so she would be sure to use maximum force on him when she made her escape. The other Grunts looked out over the ocean and all they could see was the blue of the ocean. Once they saw nothing but blue water, they grinned.

"Not a landmass in sight," one of the Grunts quipped. "This looks like the perfect place to do it."

"We're over a hundred miles from Japan's coast," another Grunt echoed. "I'll go tell Double-Oh-Nine."

The Grunt then went over towards the cockpit, where Domino was sitting behind the jet's pilot and copilot. Jessie, James, and Meowth were also in the cockpit. As he went off to alert Domino that it was safe to kill Leaf here and dispose of the body, the World Pokémon League Champion was busy scraping the rope binding her hands against a jagged metal edge on the chair. As the door opened, Domino looked back and narrowed her gaze on the Grunt.

"Ma'am, we're over the open sea," he informed her. "We should slow down to subsonic and kill Leaf now."

Domino nodded and told the pilot, "Slow to subsonic. We won't be in a hurry once Leaf is dead."

"Yes, ma'am," the pilot answered as he decelerated the plane to subsonic speed as Domino rose from her seat and followed the Grunt back into the main passenger area.

When she entered the main passenger area, she looked over at Leaf, who was still tied up, and then swept her gaze across the five Grunts. Two of the Grunts were leering at the girl, which brought a frown to Domino's face. The Grunts could not afford to let their perversion get the better of them, for Leaf would use anything and everything at her disposal to escape and/or take over the plane. She had done so before when she previously escaped Team Rocket at the tender age of nine.

"It's time," she bellowed to the Grunts. "Kill her now! We'll dump the body into the ocean once it's done."

"How do you want us to do it?" one of the Grunts asked, his tone indicating that the act of killing Leaf would be a bother from whatever he was doing.

"Any way you like," Domino answered. "The boss just wants her dead. He doesn't care how it's done just as long as it's done."

"All right," one of the Rockets almost cheered sadistically as he leered over at the bound girl sitting in the chair. He did not care that Leaf was almost grinning at him as he leered at her. He knew that there was nothing that the girl could do to him. He had her completely at his mercy, and the other Rockets hated her enough that they did not care what he did to her and how horrifying and degrading her death was just as long as she died. A couple other Grunts rolled their eyes as the first Grunt approached Leaf, a sadistic and perverted gleam appearing in his eyes. They knew better. Despite their position of strength, they knew not to underestimate her in the slightest.

The first Grunt approached the girl and looked down at her, either not comprehending that she was grinning, or not caring. "Hey there little girl. Looks like this is the end of the line for you, honey. But don't worry," he added, licking his lips. "I'll make it last a loooong time, baby. Heh, heh, heh, this is gonna be fun."

What the Grunt had not noticed was that the rope that was binding Leaf's hands had been completely frayed, the girl having rubbed it against any jagged surface that she could find. It was currently useless and the Grunt had no ideas that her hands were free. Leaf's face soon went blank as the Rocket approached, the girl doing nothing to give away that she had freed her hands. She had already marked her targets on the Rocket's body: his kidneys, his knees, and his throat, none of which he was protecting.

He leered again as he stood over the girl. He cracked his knuckles and grinned. "It's time, baby doll. You can cry, you know, it's allowed. In fact, it's encouraged."

The other Rockets were backing even further away, several of them drawing their side arms as the one Rocket bent over Leaf and licked his lips perversely, only to be caught completely off guard when she brought out her hands, revealing that the rope had been undone, striking him right in the right kidney with her left hand, with her right hand jabbing him hard in the throat. The first blow knocked the wind out of him, while the second caused him to gag as she had either crushed, or almost crushed, his trachea. He gave no cry as she then thrust her feet out at his knees, scoring a solid hit on them, causing the Rocket to fall.

She immediately grabbed the Rocket's holstered side arm and targeted Domino, pulling the trigger on the slugthrower four times. Four bullets erupted from the barrel, each one hitting Domino squarely in the chest before she could even draw her pistol. The Elite Rocket Officer fell to the ground, dead, writhing in her death throes. The other two Rockets immediately leapt into action, drawing a bead on Leaf. However, the girl was too quick and she rolled away as the Rockets fired on her, hitting their stricken sadistic comrade several times as Leaf used him for cover, the girl firing back at the Rockets with far more accuracy, striking them in the chest with her shots, felling them.

However, she would not be in the clear for long, for the sounds of her firefight soon reached the ears of the rest of the Rockets onboard the plane. The sounds of fighting were all too familiar to them when Leaf was involved so when the first shots were heard, they each rocketed from their chairs, grabbing their Poké Balls and guns and deployed their Pokémon, consisting of Muks, Grimers, and the humanoid Kadabras, Drowzees, and Hypnos before drawing their weapons and heading into the main compartment.

The moment the door opened, Leaf took aim at the door and opened fire. The first Rocket was hit in the chest and he fell forward, reflexively firing his gun, a single shot striking the wall. However, the frangible round merely disintegrated upon striking the hard wall of the plane so there was no risk of damage to the plane's hull, and thus, no loss of cabin pressure. The next Rocket to enter was a Muk, which caused Leaf to grimace. The Muk would be able to absorb the bullets fired from her gun without suffering much, if any, damage due to its body being made of sludge. The other Rockets soon used that Muk for cover, but another one was still felled by the girl's uncanny aim, all too precise for a fourteen year old child.

Still, despite their cover, the Rockets could not hit Leaf with their own gunfire, or Muk's balls of brown sludge. Leaf eventually got lucky and managed to strike Muk in a vital spot where the bullet did not just pass through its body. Whether or not the wound was fatal, she did not know, or care, all she knew was that after the bullet struck Muk between the eyes, the Pokémon collapsed onto the ground in a pile of sludge, the Pokémon's eyes closing. Still, Leaf knew that she was running out of ammunition. By her count, she had fired off twelve rounds from her gun, which meant that she likely only had four more rounds left to fend off the rest of the Rockets. If she could not get to the any of the other fallen Rockets' guns, she would not be able to defeat the rest of the group. Still, even if she would not survive, she would fight to the end and make sure that the Rockets felt the loss of manpower that it took to kill her, especially with Domino already being a fatality.

She made each of her last four shots count, felling any Rocket that emerged from behind the either unconscious or dead Muk to take a shot at her. After four shots, her gun's slide locked open, indicating that she had run out of ammunition. She quickly scanned for any discarded firearms so she could continue the fight. She found none, but she soon found something even better: her Poké Balls, which Domino had clipped to her belt.

Diving over to the fallen Rocket, who had miraculously fallen close to a sofa, she got to cover, managing to avoid the Rocket's fire, as more Grunts, and even Jessie, James, and Meowth had entered the scene. She went over to Domino's belt and managed to pull it off the dead Rocket, pulling it behind the sofa. Holes formed in the sofa above her as the Rockets fired into it, hoping to get lucky with their shots. Despite the damage done to the plush sofa, they failed to hit their desired target.

Leaf quickly counted the Poké Balls to make sure that she had all six of her Pokémon friends with her. She then went to work trying to undo the locks and seals that had been placed on the balls. This was harder than it appeared, for Team Rocket's seals were actually of high quality. They had to be since they oftentimes stole Pokémon and used the connection between Poké Ball and Pokémon to enslave their captured Pokémon. Leaf then focused on getting the seal and lock off of one of her Pokémon, Starmie since it was part Psychic-type and could assist her in removing the other seals and locks, as well as assisting her in the landing of this plane once she reached land. As soon as she had removed the seal from Starmie's Poké Ball, the shooting stopped, hopefully due to Team Rocket having run out of ammunition. She then went to work trying to unlock the ball before they reloaded and continued their assault.

However, before she could unlock Starmie's ball a blue field of energy surrounded her and lifted her into the air, bringing her out from behind the sofa. She looked forward and saw James's Malamar, along with Jessie's Gourgeist as well as a Kadabra from one of the Rocket Grunts. She could tell from the open slides that Team Rocket had expended their ammunition shooting into the sofa in their failed attempt to kill her. Still, it did not matter now. With Kadabra and Malamar having incapacitated her, she was at their mercy. That was when Jessie stepped forward and laughed haughtily.

"Ha, ha, ha! You put up a good fight, twerpette, but in the end, we were still too much for you without your Pokémon," she ridiculed.

"Yeah, now we're gonna end this," Meowth added, with a sneer.

Jessie then looked over at James, who was noticeably silent, and when he did nothing, inclined her head towards Leaf. James looked quizzically over at the two of them. "Come on, James, finish it!" Jessie commanded.

"What do you want _me_ to do?" James asked, not getting what Jessie was proposing.

"Have that Malamar of yours tear Leaf apart!" Jessie almost screeched.

The order took James aback. "Huh? You want Malamar to simply pull her apart?"

"Why not?" one of the Grunts queried. "We're currently out of bullets and the longer we sit around, talkin' about this, the greater the chance she has of findin' a means of escape."

"From a plane?" James asked, almost scoffing. Still, his scoff hid his true feelings. Killing Leaf in the heat of battle was one thing. Killing her like this, by pulling her apart, when she was already incapacitated was something else entirely. He then looked over at the other Rockets and asked, "Don't you think it would be messy?"

"Like having her be shot wouldn't be?" the Grunts scoffed.

"Well, it would be cleaner than simply pulling her apart," James argued. "Don't we have any more ammunition? A blade, perhaps?"

"What's wrong, James?" Jessie asked exasperatedly, unable to hide her annoyance at her partner's squeamishness. "Leaf's just killed or injured ten comrades and a Muk! What do you think she'll do to us if she has half a chance?"

Leaf gave a knowing shrug, indicating that the Trio and any other Grunt present would be joining their comrades in the hospital or morgue if the Malamar's concentration wavered and she was able to escape. She soon looked out one of the small windows and caught sight of a metallic gleam off in the distance. She suppressed a grin. Her help was coming and would arrive in only a few more seconds. She only had to last that long before the game changed once more. Hopefully James could fight off Jessie's influence for that long.

Her hopes were dashed as James eventually relented and said to Jessie and the others, "Fine, I'll have Malamar do it." He then turned to Malamar and told it, "Kill Leaf, preferably by strangulation." It would be painful for the girl, but it would not leave too much of a mess.

"Man, what a wimp," one of the Grunts moaned.

Jessie and Meowth nodded in agreement but did not say anything. They just wanted this to be over with. James then glanced over at Malamar and nodded. Malamar then went to work, focusing its Psychic on Leaf's neck as it choked her. Leaf gagged as she attempted to draw in breath, Malamar preventing her from moving or doing anything that could aid in her trying to breathe again. All of the Rockets, save for James, grinned as they saw Leaf gasping for air.

After about ten seconds into Leaf's choking, and hopeful strangulation, they heard the pilot's voice come in over the speaker, saying, "Agent Double-Oh-Nine, do you read me?"

Jessie gave a grumble and went over to a speaker to make her report. "Domino is dead," she told the pilot. "I'm the ranking Team Rocket officer. What is it?"

"Ma'am, we've just detected an object to our rear."

"Well, what is it?" Jessie queried in her usual exasperated tone.

"I don't know," the copilot answered. "All we know is that it's…wait, a second object just appeared on radar. It's smaller but it's approaching fast!"

Jessie gave an annoyed grumble just moments before a loud explosion sounded and the plane shook, knocking the Rockets, and their Pokémon, off their feet. To make matters worse for the Rockets, the explosion also blew in some glass from the door, which was propelled into the Kadabra's skull, killing it. The explosion also knocked Malamar around, causing it to hit the wall hard, dazing it and causing it to lose its concentration on Leaf and drop her to the ground, as well as cease its strangulation of her. Leaf immediately took a number of deep breaths as she moved as far away from the door that led to the rear of the plane, and almost certainly a hole in the hull, as possible.

"Damn, we've been hit by a missile!" the pilot cried over the speaker.

"No $%#^ Sherlock!" one of the Grunts roared to no one in particular.

This gave Leaf the opportunity she needed to undo the lock on Starmie's Poké Ball. She then opened the Poké Ball and Starmie emerged from the ball, the first thing the starfish-like Pokémon doing upon emerging was to fire an Ice Beam at a stunned Gourgeist and freeze it solid. That was when the pilot screamed over the speaker once more, "Ma'am, the unknown object is approaching." There was a beat before the pilot screamed once more, "Oh no, there a second object. Brace for impact!"

But the second impact never came, at least, not in the way Team Rocket had anticipated. Leaf looked over at the door and soon saw it fly open, wind rushing out of the room as one of the Rocket Grunts was immediately blown off of the plane to fall to the sea more than ten thousand feet below. Charging through the doorway was a large ape with brown fur, on top of the ape a smaller monkey with a jetpack keeping the ape from being blown out of the plane. Leaf grinned as she immediately recognized Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. The door then closed and the cabin's pressure returned to normal, for the time being.

"What took you so long?" Leaf mock complained.

"Had to fuel the Barrel Plane," Donkey Kong answered.

"Your tracking device activated unexpectedly," Diddy added. "We were expecting you to land in Kanto."

"Well, I'm just glad you guys came." She then paused before asking, "Is it Funky in the Barrel Plane?"

"Sure is," Donkey Kong answered, nodding. "Usually, he hates adventures, but we managed to convince him to come with us so he could see some locales around the world."

"Tell him that was good shooting."

"We can do it once we get off this plane," Donkey Kong stated.

"You're not going anywhere," the group heard the shrill voice of Jessie proclaim from behind.

Turning around, they saw Jessie, James, Meowth, along with three Grunts. Jessie then took out a Poké Ball and deployed her remaining Pokémon, Wobbuffet. The blue blob-like Pokémon soon emerged and cried, "Wobbuffet," saluting as he did so.

"Don't attack directly," Leaf cautioned Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, who had just drawn his Peanut Popguns. Seeing the popguns, Leaf amended her plan. "On second thought, yes, Diddy, you fire your Peanut Popguns at Wobbuffet! Donkey, get ready to dodge!"

Diddy did as directed and he fired a barrage of peanuts from his guns directly at Wobbuffet.

"Wobbuffet, use Counter!" Jessie cried.

Wobbuffet obeyed and a red field of energy appeared over Wobbuffet as he used Counter to reflect the peanuts back at Donkey and Diddy Kong. Being ready for that, though, Donkey Kong was able to avoid the reflected peanuts. Meanwhile, Leaf had nodded towards Starmie, who unleashed a massive Hydro Pump on Wobbuffet, felling him with one blow, the blob-like Pokémon falling the floor, swirls appearing in his eyes, showing that he was unconscious. Once Wobbuffet was down, Starmie unleashed a Thunderbolt on the rest of the Team Rocket forces present, rendering each of them unconscious.

With the Rockets in the room having been neutralized, Donkey Kong took out a headset and spoke into it, saying, "Funky, we've found Leaf. We're ready for extraction."

"I hear ya, DK, I'm already in position and waiting for you all to come out," Funky crackled over the headset.

Donkey Kong nodded and then turned to Leaf and said, "Get ready. When I open that door, the cabin will depressurize. We'll then jump to Funky's Barrel Plane. You should be able to jump into a barrel, which will be perfectly safe," he assured her.

Leaf nodded, understanding what Donkey Kong was saying. She then clipped her Poké Balls to her belt, making sure that each of them was firmly locked to her belt so that the wind would not blow them off. She then looked over to Starmie and told it, "When that door opens, use Psychic to guide me to the barrel."

Starmie bobbed up and down in affirmation as Donkey Kong went over to the door and proceeded to open it. Air suddenly rushed from the cabin, pushing Leaf towards the far wall. Struggling against the rush of wind as she made her way towards the door. The unconscious forms of several of the Rockets were blown out the door and fell out of the plane and to the water almost ten thousand feet below. Jessie, James, Meowth, and Wobbuffet were blown into a wall, where they collided and left a series of indents in it. James's Malamar, though, was blown out of the plane, left to fall to its death.

Eventually, Leaf made it to the door and allowed the wind to take her out of the plane, Starmie using Psychic to surround her in a blue field of energy. Leaf shielded her eyes from the smoke emanating from the plane's rear, a testament to the damage inflicted by the missile. Starmie guided her to the Barrel Plane, which looked like a normal plane with a barrel in the middle of it. Starmie guided her to the entrance of the plane, pushing her inside, quickly joining her as they entered the plane. The Barrel Plane then peeled off as the smoking Team Rocket jet continued into the distance, likely heading towards Team Rocket Headquarters.

However, as the plane began to peel off, the Rocket jet made a wide turn as it attempted to turn to attack the plane, a chin gun extending from below the nose of the plane. It then swiveled around towards the plane's rear and opened fire, spewing several bolts of energy towards Funky's Barrel Plane. Funky went evasive, avoiding the torrent of energy bolts tracking towards his plane. He quickly retaliated by locking onto the Rocket jet and firing off another missile, this one heading straight towards one of the jet engines of the plane. The missile struck the engine and detonated, blowing off the engine. The missile must have hit close to the fuel tank as well, for the entire rear half of the plane instantly exploded, leaving nothing but a charred metal shell. Fire also traveled throughout the rest of the plane, incinerating anyone still inside the plane. The flaming hulk immediately listed downwards and plunged into the ocean after its uncontrolled descent. With the Rocket jet having been dealt with, Funky turned in the plane's internal radio and asked, "Okay dudes, where to?"

"Viridian Forest," Leaf answered. "That's the location of the closest of the mysterious trees."

"Alright then, next stop, Viridian Forest," Funky proclaimed as he directed his plan towards Viridian Forest.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

Back in Kalos, Ash, Serena, and Clemont surged through Route 10, making their way towards the gate of Geosenge Town. Two Team Flare Grunts deployed some Golbats and tried to have them use Confuse Ray on Ash and his friends, but Pikachu fired off a series of Thunderbolts and took down the Team Flare Pokémon without any trouble, the still sparking bodies of the Golbats lining the road as they powered through, a subsequent volley of Thunderbolts from Clemont's Luxray felling the Team Flare Grunts.

As Ash and his friends approached the gate, more Team Flare Grunts, as well as a few Admins, came out to intercept them. Upon sighting the teens, they wasted no time deploying their Pokémon, mostly consisting of numerous Manectrics, Houndooms, or Mightyenas. Among the unique Pokémon that were deployed, however, was a Toxicroak, an evolution of Croagunk, a Scrafty, a Golbat, and a Swalot, a tall, purple amorphous Pokémon.

Ash and the others gritted their teeth, for he did not want to reveal his entire team before reaching Geosenge Town. Ash's friends, however, did not have that same issue. "Everyone, come on out!" Clemont cried.

He then tossed his remaining Poké Balls into the air and they immediately opened, revealing Heliolisk and Chesnaught. They landed next to Diggersby and Luxray and assumed fighter's stances when they met eyes with the opposing Pokémon.

"Everybody, come on out," Serena cried in echo.

She then tossed her own Poké Balls into the air and out came Delphox, Pangoro, Sylveon, and Swampert, a newcomer to her team that Ash had not known about before the battle against Leaf. They landed on the ground, Pangoro producing a thud as he landed, and they turned to face down the Team Flare forces, the Pokémon glaring at their opponents.

Seeing that the rest of his team would be needed in order to face down the rest of the Team Flare, Pokémon, he realized that he would need the help of his entire team. "Okay everyone, come on out. We need you!" Ash cried, tossing his own Poké Balls into the air. Out came Greninja, Talonflame, Goodra, Hawlucha, and Noivern.

The Team Flare Grunts and Admins grimaced at the sight of the Pokémon forces arrayed against them. They noticed Ash's Hawlucha and Serena's Pangoro and identified those Pokémon as the greatest threats in the force that was arrayed against them. "Okay, everyone," one of the Admins told the rest of the group, " mark your targets. Make sure that the non-Dark-type Pokémon face down the Fighting-type Pokémon."

The Team Flare Grunts and Admins turned and nodded to the Admin giving the orders. They also made note of Serena's Sylveon due to its Fairy-typing, but they felt that the Houndooms' part Fire-typing would equalize that fight.

"Everyone, attack!" the Team Flare forces cried, pointing towards Ash and his forces. The moment the order was given, the Team Flare Pokémon opened up the battle by unleashing a barrage of attacks on Ash, Serena, and Clemont's Pokémon."

"Everyone go!" Ash and his friends cried in unison. "Focus on Pokémon you're strong against," Ash cried. "We need to end these battles as quickly as possible."

The Pokémon nodded and proceeded to intercept the attacks of Team Flare's Pokémon. Most of Team Flare's Fire-type Pokémon had launched Flamethrower attacks on Ash, his friends, and their Pokémon. Greninja powered a Water Shuriken and used it to intercept as many of the attacks as possible and managed to douse many of the Flamethrower attacks, neutralizing them, steam erupting from the points of impact, the steam obscuring the two teams. Greninja then tossed the shuriken at one of Team Flare's Pokémon, the frog-like Pokémon generating many more Water Shuriken to use to defeat the rest of the Pokémon. The volley of Water Shuriken did its job as two Houndooms were felled by the Water Shuriken, the Pokémon proving themselves to not be trained in actual combat, seemingly being more similar to thugs than actual soldiers.

Diggersby proceeded to burrow underground to seemingly evade a volley of Thunderbolts but the reality of the situation was that Diggersby was merely trying to get into a better position to initiate the attack on the Electric-type Pokémon of the Team Flare forces. The Pokémon quickly traveled through the ground and sprang up from the ground right underneath one of the Manectrics and collided with it, knocking the Pokémon unconscious. Diggersby then proceeded to make its way over to another Manectric and used Double Slap on it, slapping the Pokémon numerous times, knocking it backwards. Despite the attacks not being enough to knock out the Manectric, they were sufficiently powerful enough to stagger the Electric-type Pokémon.

The other Manectrics unleashed a volley of Thunderbolts on Diggersby but they were ineffective against the part Ground-type Pokémon. When they saw that their attacks were ineffective against the part Ground-type Pokémon, they decided to use other techniques such as Crunch or Body Slam, but they quickly had to endure numerous assaults by Chesnaught, who unleashed a barrage of Pin Missile on the Pokémon, needles striking and stickling into the skin and fur of the Manectrics. Serena's Pangoro also joined in on the assault, unleashing a Stone Edge attack on them, stones erupting from the ground and all but impaling numerous Manectrics. The combined assaults were more than sufficient to take down the Electric-type Pokémon before they could focus their attacks on more vulnerable Pokémon.

As for the rest of the Team Flare Pokémon, Ash's Greninja, Hawlucha, Goodra, and Pikachu were on the front lines, unleashing Water Shuriken, Dragon Pulses, and Thunderbolts at the Team Flare Pokémon. The Team Flare Pokémon did their best to try to counter the attacks, the Mightyenas attempted to launch Dark Pulses at Ash's Pokémon only to be met by Hawlucha, who took the pulses and charged through them, taking minor to moderate damage at best. That did not bother Hawlucha, though, as he performed a High Jump Kick on the nearest of the wolf-like Pokémon, nailing it in the head and knocking it out with that blow. He then turned and used Karate Chop on another Mightyena and staggered it before a second Karate Chop took it down.

As for the other Team Flare Pokémon that were attacking Ash and crew, Goodra took down the Scrafty with Dragon Pulse while Greninja took out Toxicroak with Water Shuriken. Pikachu fried Golbat with a Thunderbolt, rendering it unconscious with a single attack. Swalot attempted to attack Greninja, firing off a Gunk Shot on Greninja, the pile of garbage arcing through the air. The attack struck Greninja, causing the Greninja to vanish and reveal itself to be nothing more than an illusory copy due to Double Team. Greninja retaliated with a Water Shuriken barrage and knocked out the Swalot with one volley.

With the Team Flare Pokémon having been beaten with shocking ease, the Grunts and Admins looked over at the trio in utter disbelief. "Man, what gives?" one of the Grunts uttered.

"How are these kids so strong?" another gasped in question.

"It doesn't matter," an Admin answered. "We've gotta retreat and summon reinforcements."

"Right," the other Admins and Grunts answered, nodding. They then recalled their Pokémon and retreated from the teens, heading through the gate into Geosenge Town so they could alert the others to the situation.

Ash, Clemont, and Serena saw the retreat and they knew that they had to pursue them and wasted no time beginning the pursuit. Ash led the charge with Pikachu jumping onto his shoulder, and Talonflame taking flight, flying forward to scout the area. Serena and Clemont followed Ash, their Pokémon following close behind, Delphox keeping her senses open on the off chance that Team Flare was preparing an ambush.

The trio surged through the gate and saw the scene open up before them. Ash looked up and stared at the flower-shaped Ultimate Weapon in the distance, the device open and the crystalline tips resembling flower petals and grimaced. He had seen the weapon before, but he had not had the same sense of dread that he currently felt at this moment. He had a bad feeling that the weapon was on the verge of firing. He looked around and saw the abandoned Pokémon Center and hotel near the gate. Looking ahead a bit, he later saw the debris of structures that had been toppled when the Ultimate Weapon had been deployed. The scene brought back uncomfortable memories for the trio. They would not make the same mistake they made last time. Today, they would destroy the Ultimate Weapon, once and for all.

"Goodra, use Dragon Pulse on that thing! Pikachu, use Electro Ball! Talonflame, use Flamethrower. Noivern, you fire off a Draco Meteor! We have to destroy the Ultimate Weapon now!"

"Delphox, use Psychic! Sylveon, use Moonblast on the Ultimate Weapon!" Serena cried.

"Luxray, Heliolisk, use Thunderbolt on the Ultimate Weapon! Chesnaught, use Seed Bomb on it now!" Clemont cried. "We have to stop that thing before it can fire!"

The team's Pokémon unleashed their attacks on the Ultimate weapon, streams of fire, electricity, and other attacks converged on the weapon. However, despite the onslaught that could have leveled several city blocks, the Ultimate Weapon took the entire assault and stood there completely undamaged. Ash and the others looked on in shock as the blast cloud dissipated, revealing that the weapon was undamaged.

"It'll take more than that to destroy the Ultimate Weapon," Ash heard a voice proclaim up ahead.

He looked forward and saw the familiar form of Malva step out, flanked by Aliana, Bryony, Celosia, and Mable. The trio gritted their teeth at the sight of the Team Flare elites. Ash instantly recognized Malva as having been a member of the Kalos Elite Four. He also noticed the absence of Xerosic and suppressed a grin.

"Did you really think that you could come in here without us discovering your plans?" Malva asked condescendingly. "You should have known that you'd never reach us undetected.

Ash was not bothered by Malva's statement. "So, what happened to Xerosic?" he asked with a dark grin. He had already heard about Xerosic's death, but he had a feeling that the Team Flare scientists had not. He could see Malva scowl at the question, indicating that while she knew the answer, the others did not.

"He died on assignment," Malva answered, almost growling. Ash could not tell whether Malva believed that Team Flare was responsible for Xerosic's death or if she believed what was likely the party line and that he died performing his mission.

"That's funny," Ash retorted. "I heard that he was found dead with two Malamars, shot in the head just like they were. I wonder who shot him and why," he added in a suspicious tone, glancing over at the former Elite Four member.

The four female scientists glanced at each other, concerned expressions crossing their faces. Apparently, they had not heard of Xerosic's demise.

"That doesn't matter right now," Malva answered forcefully. "We've been tasked with stopping you right here, right now, and that's what we're gonna do."

"I think it _does_ matter," Serena stated in a dark tone, something that was almost alien to her. "If Lysandre sacrificed Xerosic for some reason, what's to stop him from sacrificing you and the other scientists too? What if he's forced to sacrifice _all_ of Team Flare for his ambitions? He's already disposed of Xerosic and three Malamars that can hypnotize anyone as well as travel back and forth through time. What'll happen when it comes time to dispose of _you_?"

Malva did not let Serena's question get to her, but it was clear that the other four were far more uncertain about their eventual fates. They knew that Serena could just be riling them up so that they could be caught off guard since most of what was left of Team Flare was outside the town, but if there were any truth to what the teens were saying, then there would be trouble. They glanced at each other but soon nodded and turned their focus back on the trio of teens standing before them.

As the scientists were considering their course of action, Delphox had scanned them to try to place more doubt in their minds when she picked up on the fact that most of Team Flare had been deployed and that there was only a token defense at the Team Flare secret hideout. She quickly telepathically relayed this information to Serena, whose eyes went wide at the revelation.

"Ash, Clemont, we've caught Team Flare with their pants down," she blurted quickly. "Malva and the scientists here are the only remaining Team Flare forces save for a token defense inside the base."

Ash's eyes lit up. This was perfect. They had made it past the main force, with Meyer and Professor Sycamore hopefully being able to hold off the rest of the organization. Apparently, the losses they had sustained earlier were far more important than they had let on.

"Okay, here's the plan," Ash began. "Since Team Flare only has a token defense inside the base, Serena, you go and take on that defense. You've got a versatile team and Delphox can help you get past them while Sylveon can help cover Delphox against any Dark-type Pokémon that may be sent to deal with her." He then turned to Clemont and said, "Clemont, you deal with those four scientists. I'll deal with Malva. She may be Team Flare, but she's still a member of the Elite Four and is probably the strongest Trainer here." Turning back to Serena, he continued, "Once Malva's beaten, I'll join you and help you deal with whatever's left inside of Team Flare's base."

Serena and Clemont nodded in agreement. Clemont then focused his gaze on the four scientists and stepped forward, his Pokémon forming up in front of him.

"So it looks like the Lumiose City Gym Leader and tech geek is gonna try to get past us," Aliana stated arrogantly.

"We'll see just how well he does against us," Bryony stated in a cocky tone as the four scientists got out their Poké Balls and tossed them into the air, crying, "Go!"

Immediately, out came Mightyena, Druddigon, Liepard, Bisharp, Manectric, Drapion, Houndoom, and Weavile. Clemont could only grin. His team was perfectly suited for dealing with the Pokémon arrayed against him, despite the numerical disadvantage.

"Okay everyone," he told his team. "This is where it really counts. Go!" he cried, pointing at the scientists and their Pokémon. The two sides then clashed in battle.

Meanwhile, Serena attempted to make her way past Malva but Malva tossed out a Talonflame and commanded, "Talonflame, use Flamethrower on that girl!"

Malva's Talonflame went to attack Serena, but the Flamethrower was intercepted by Ash's Greninja, who fired a volley of Water Shuriken to intercept the attack without being given an order. Steam erupted from the contact points between the two attacks. The resulting steam obscured Malva and her Pokémon's vision, allowing Serena to make her way past the Elite Four Trainer, who was stuck in the middle of the steam cloud, scanning the surroundings, searching for the girl. When the steam cleared, she saw Ash standing before her, his Pokémon team fully deployed, but no sign of Serena. Still, she grinned.

"So you're the one who's gonna try and stop us," she stated with a confident grin. "You know you have a clear path to the base, though if you turn your back on me, I'll immolate you." She then paused before finishing with, "Do you really think that your Performer girlfriend can actually stand against a squad of actual Pokémon Trainers? She's not cut out for this. We made certain of that, ourselves." That last statement was made a little too knowingly for Ash's liking.

The boy's eyes went wide at her last statement. "Whadaya mean?" he blurted in question. Malva only grinned and gave a sinister chuckle.

"I'll tell you only if you beat me in battle," she answered in a sinister tone. "But don't think it'll be easy just because you outnumber me. I _am_ , after all, a member of the Elite Four. And you're only a Trainer that gets close but never achieves his dreams. I don't ever remember you beating a member of the Elite Four of any region. You may as well give up now. You have no chance against me."

"You talk too much," Ash retorted as Pikachu jumped forward, ready for the battle to begin. "Pika!" the Pokémon cried in anticipation.

Malva then took out a Poké Ball and tossed it out onto the battlefield. "Pyroar, go!" she cried.

The Poké Ball opened and out came the leonine Pyroar. Pyroar landed with a thud and gave an intimidating roar. Pikachu was unfazed and gave a confident grin, electricity crackling about his cheeks. He was eager to start this battle. The two Trainers then pointed at each other and cried to their Pokémon, "Go!"

The two Pokémon then began the fight by firing off Flamethrower and Thunderbolt respectively. Ash's battle against Malva of Team Flare and the Kalos Elite Four had begun. The stakes, however, were much higher right now, for failure was not an option.

Meanwhile, not too far from Ash, Serena rushed towards Team Flare's secret base as fast as she could while Ash and Clemont battled Malva and the Team Flare Scientists. While a part of her believed that Ash would be better suited for infiltrating the base, she knew that she would have been a liability against Malva and the Team Flare Scientists. Hopefully, with most of the organization guarding the trails leading to Geosenge Town, there would only be a small token defense mounted at the base, itself.

As she approached the narrow pathway that led into the base, she saw two Team Flare Grunts guarding the pathway. When they caught sight of her, they immediately tossed two Poké Balls into the air and out came a Golbat and a Litleo. "Golbat, Litleo, attack!" the Flares cried.

"Swampert, Delphox, go!" Serena cried in counterpoint, tossing two of her own Poké Balls into the air.

Swampert and Delphox immediately landed on the ground and turned to focus on the Team Flare Pokémon. "Golbat, use Confuse Ray on Delphox! Litleo, use Flamethrower on Swampert!" the Flares cried, pointing at Serena's Pokémon.

"Swampert, use Hydro Pump on Litleo. Delphox, use Psychic on Golbat!" Serena cried to her Pokémon. While she had rarely battled in the past, something told her that the two Team Flare Grunts in front of her were only slightly more experienced in battling than she was. Still, her Pokémon's experience in Showcases and making their moves look good actually made up the difference in battle since her Pokémon had trained for their moves as well. As such, they were able to launch their attacks faster than the Team Flare Pokémon.

They unleashed their Hydro Pump and Psychic attacks on Litleo and Golbat and they managed to knock back the Pokémon, staggering them. Still, despite the attacks being super effective, they were not strong enough to knock out the enemy Pokémon in one blow. Golbat got up and fired off a Confuse Ray at Delphox while Litleo unleashed a Flamethrower on Swampert. The Flamethrower did minimal damage to Swampert and the Water/Ground-type Pokémon returned the favor by firing off another Hydro Pump, knocking out the Pokémon. Meanwhile, Delphox was hit by the Confuse Ray and immediately started looking around, trying to fight through her confusion. She knew that Swampert was not an enemy and that Serena was at the very least an ally, but she could barely identify Golbat.

Serena, seeing that Delphox was having trouble, told Swampert, "Swampert, use Ice Beam on Golbat!"

Swampert complied and fired off an Ice Beam right at Golbat as it turned to try to zero in on Swampert in order to use Confuse Ray on him. Swampert's aim was true and scored a direct hit on Golbat, freezing it into a sheet of ice and rendering it unconscious. Once the two Pokémon were beaten, Serena cried, "Delphox, return!"

She then returned Delphox to her Poké Ball and then told Swampert, "Swampert, use Ice Beam on the Team Flare Grunts!"

The Grunts looked on in shock as they heard Serena's order. They attempted to retreat to alert the others as to Serena's presence, but Swampert was too fast and fired an Ice Beam at one of the Flares, instantly freezing him solid. He then swept the Ice Beam to the other Flare and froze him solid as well. Serena then rushed past the frozen Flares, a part of her hating what she had just told her Swampert to do, but another part of her realizing the threat that the Flares posed should they be allowed to continue the fight, especially since rendering them unconscious with Delphox's Psychic was not an option due to Delphox's confusion.

After a while, she let Delphox back out of her Poké Ball and she saw that the Pokémon was cured of her earlier confusion. Once they were ready, she returned Swampert to his Poké Ball, wanting him to conserve his energy for any later battles where his battling prowess would be needed. After Serena then stormed into the base.

Inside the Team Flare Secret Headquarters, Lysandre stood and waited with a reindeer-like Pokémon called Xerneas, and a large bird-like Pokémon called Yveltal. He stared at the screen as one of the cameras that he had set up all around Geosenge Town focused in on Serena, the hero that Lysandre was actually the most concerned about. He studied her expression as she fought the two Flare guards and had Swampert freeze them solid. She almost frowned at the sight but he caught how uncomfortable ordering her Pokémon to do such a thing had made her and he grinned. She was not the hero that he had dreaded the entire time. No, she was still just a Performer and idol. The skill of Ash had not rubbed off onto her, or if it had before, she had forgotten it since Ash had left Kalos. He was more thankful than ever that Leaf was no longer in Kalos, for he knew that she would have been able to defeat him, despite the fact that he had Pokémon that were capable of Mega Evolution.

He then shifted his focus to the other battles occurring in Geosenge Town. He did not know how Malva would fare against Ash, but he felt that even if she lost, she would take him to the brink. After all, she was a member of the Kalos Elite Four, thus she was one of the best Trainers in Kalos. If she could not make a kid who had never won a major league work for a win, she did not deserve to be a member of the Elite Four, or a member of Team Flare, for that matter.

Turning his focus to Clemont, he had a feeling that the scientists would not be able to defeat him in battle, but that was not their job. All they had to do was slow him down and keep him from assisting Ash against Malva, or running on ahead to support Serena. If he could divide the heroes, he would conquer them easily. However, if they could come together and unite as one, then they would be trouble. Fortunately, that was a long way off. He then sat back and waited as the few remaining Team Flare Grunts inside the base got to their positions to intercept Serena. It did not matter what happened to everyone outside. They would all be dead anyway once the weapon fired.

Back on the battlefield that was Geosenge Town, Pikachu's Thunderbolt and Pyroar's Flamethrower collided with each other and exploded, producing a large cloud of smoke that obscured both combatants from one another. A rush of wind buffeted both Pokémon but they stood firm against it, neither Pokémon suffering any damage from the attack. Pikachu and Ash looked around through the cloud of smoke, trying to find any sign of Pyroar. Ash looked across the makeshift field to try to see Malva's expression so that he could gauge her reaction and what she may have been planning. As he found Malva, he saw that she was merely standing there, smirking, as if this was all part of the plan.

"Pyroar, use Noble Roar!" the Elite Four and Team Flare Agent commanded.

Pyroar instantly emitted a piercing roar that would have sounded noble to the ears of someone who did not know of Malva or what her Pyroar was fighting for. To Ash, it was a perversion of a technique that had the word 'noble' in it, for there was nothing noble about Malva, or anyone or anything that fought for her or what she was fighting for.

As for Pikachu, he endured the roar, not realizing at first that it was an attack. Only after the roar became louder did he realize that it was an attack from Pyroar. Pikachu braced himself against the attack, not knowing what it did, but having a feeling that it would be bad. A strange feeling soon came over Pikachu and he began to feel lethargic, as if his energy was being drained from his body. Not too long from then, the cloud of smoke cleared and Pikachu could see Pyroar once more.

"Pyroar, use Flamethrower!" Malva called out calmly, almost as if she knew exactly how this battle was going to turn out.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt one more time!" Ash cried in counterpoint, pointing to Pyroar.

The two Pokémon launched their attacks at each other once more but this time, when they collided, Pikachu's Thunderbolt was stopped for a second before Pyroar's Flamethrower overpowered it and began pushing it back. Pikachu did his best to add more power to the Thunderbolt but he was unable to push back the stream of flame. The flame from the Flamethrower overpowered Pikachu's bolt of lightning and soon connected with Pikachu and sent him sailing through the air. He tumbled through the air before hitting the ground hard and rolling along it before lying sprawled out on the ground.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried, shocked at seeing what he believed to be his strongest Pokémon having such trouble against Pyroar.

Pikachu then jumped back up, burns and soot marks covering his body but he was still able to battle. Ash looked on at Malva and Pyroar and wondered why Pyroar's Flamethrower had overpowered Pikachu's Thunderbolt so quickly when in the previous clash, the two were equal in power.

"Noble Roar lowers an opponent's Attack and Special Attack power," Malva answered, almost as if she were reading his mind, even though she was no psychic. "You may as well call this battle off, Ash, you won't win against my Pyroar."

"We'll see about that," Ash cried. He then turned to Pikachu and commanded, "Pikachu, use Quick Attack and then Electro Ball on Pyroar!"

Pikachu turned to Ash and nodded before focusing back on Pyroar. He then rushed towards Pyroar with blazing speed, far too fast for Pyroar to be able to track. Still, this would pose no problem for the leonine Pokémon, for when Pikachu rammed into Pyroar's head, his weakened physical attack strength, which was already not that high, proved to be no match for Pyroar, who barely flinched at the impact.

"Pyroar, finish this with Flamethrower," Malva told Pyroar in a conversational tone.

Just as Pikachu had powered an Electro Ball and had spun though the air and went to launch it from his tail, Pyroar unleashed its Flamethrower right into Pikachu's face, instantly overpowering the Electro Ball. The attack was more than sufficient to take down Pikachu and the electric mouse was sent sailing through the air. Ash rushed over and managed to catch him. Looking at the electric rodent, he could see swirls in Pikachu's eyes, indicating that the Pokémon was unable to battle. Pyroar had won this fight, but Ash still had the numerical advantage. Still, he gritted his teeth at the ease with which Pyroar had defeated Pikachu.

"You may as well go home and spend your last moments with your friends and family before the end," Malva told him nonchalantly. "You can't beat me. I've studied your record. You've never beaten an Elite Four Trainer before."

"You're not Elite Four!" Ash cried at the top of his lungs. "You betrayed them and joined Team Flare! You're nothing but a traitor and a Team Flare lackey!"

"A lackey that's making you look like a joke," Malva retorted cockily, not letting Ash's accusation get to her.

Ash growled and then took out a Poké Ball and cried, "Greninja, I choose you!"

He tossed the Poké Ball out onto the battlefield and it opened, revealing the frog-like Greninja. Malva smirked and said, "You should have started with Greninja. You could have saved Pikachu for a difficult fight later."

Ash did not like the sound of Malva's statement but he did not let it distract him or get him worried about what was to come later. "Greninja, it's time to bond evolve. We'll need to be at full power if we're gonna beat Malva."

Greninja nodded and closed his eyes. A torrent of water soon surrounded him and he evolved into Ash-Greninja. Malva watched Greninja's evolution and grinned. She remembered Greninja's special evolution from Ash's previous battles against Team Flare and their agents. Despite Greninja's power boost, it was still not equal to a Mega Evolution in terms of raw power, and she felt that she would not even need to Mega Evolve any of her Mega Evolution capable Pokémon in order to defeat Ash.

"Greninja, use Double Team and then use Water Shuriken on Pyroar!" Ash ordered.

Almost instantly, a large group of illusory copies of Ash-Greninja appeared on the battlefield. Malva was unconcerned. She had faced these strategies before. "Pyroar, use your senses to identify the real one and use Wild Charge on it," she told him calmly.

Pyroar nodded and proceeded to close its eyes and both listened for Greninja's attack, as well as smelling the air as well as even feeling any rush of wind that may have come towards her. Greninja decided to attack quickly, hoping to score a quick hit before Pyroar got a chance to mount an effective defense. He quickly tossed a volley of Water Shuriken Pyroar's way, spinning star-shaped pulses of water hurtling towards the leonine Pokémon, only some of them being real, though. Using her sense of hearing, as well as smell, Pyroar was eventually able to identify the location of Greninja and prepare to use Wild Charge. Greninja's attack came quickly and the Pokémon was forced to go evasive, the leonine Pokémon not being quick enough to avoid all of the Water Shuriken and she took multiple direct hits. The hits inflicted a surprising amount of damage to the leonine Pokémon, knocking her backwards a few steps. She had not expected Ash-Greninja to be this powerful. Even Malva looked on with a little bit of concern, fearing that she may have underestimated Ash's Greninja. However, despite Greninja's power boost, the single volley of Water Shuriken was not enough to take out Pyroar and she quickly retaliated by using Wild Charge.

She rushed towards one of the Greninjas, each of who were on the move in order to make it harder to identify the real one. That strategy was neutralized by Pyroar's sense of smell, hearing, and even sense of touch as she felt the rush of Greninja's air as he moved. Quickly identifying the real one, she rushed towards it, a glow of yellow electricity forming around her as she powered the Wild Charge. She then slammed straight into Greninja sending him flying through the air. He tumbled through the air, electricity still sparking around his body, but managed to regain his balance so he could land, only for Pyroar to hit him again with Wild Charge. This time, he was sent flying only a few feet into the air before crashing to the ground. Greninja looked down at the ground, a stunned expression crossing his face. He had never faced such a Pokémon before. The Water Shuriken should have inflicted more damage to her and Wild Charge should not have taken him to the brink the way it had just now. He glanced back at Ash to make sure that Ash was not hurting too badly due to their connection. He then turned to see Pyroar charging at him once more.

"Pyroar, finish off Greninja with another Wild Charge!"

Pyroar obeyed and Greninja realized that none of his ninja tricks would work against her. He had to face her down, power against power. Fortunately, Water Shuriken was a ranged attack. Unfortunately, though, Pyroar was also agile, so if he wanted to score a real hit on the leonine Pokémon, he would have to wait for her to be close enough for a sure hit. He watched and waited as she charged towards him in a zigzag pattern, being evasive so as to throw off his aim. He knew that he had to put everything he had into this Water Shuriken or he would fall, for he could not withstand another Wild Charge. Pyroar closed the distance and made contact with Greninja just as Greninja unleashed his Water Shuriken on Pyroar. Both Pokémon gave cries of pain as they hit each other with their attacks, Greninja being sent skidding backwards, electricity arcing across his body, while Pyroar was waterlogged by the shuriken and greatly weakened, but had managed to score a direct hit on Ash-Greninja. However, the recoil inflicted by Wild Charge would doom Pyroar, for she promptly fell to the ground, swirls appearing in her eyes, indicating that she was unable to battle. Ash was about to cheer until he felt his chest tighten painfully and he nearly keeled over. He looked out onto the battlefield and saw Greninja fall too, the Pokémon reverting to his normal form and swirls appearing in his eyes, indicating that he, too, had fainted. After a second, Ash recovered and was ready to continue the battle.

Malva calmly got out Pyroar's Poké Ball and said, "Return Pyroar." She then drew Pyroar into the Poké Ball and then brought it to her, saying, "You did great, especially against that special Greninja. He was stronger than our intelligence had indicated." She then clipped the Poké Ball to her belt and soon brought out another Poké Ball.

As for Ash, he returned Greninja to his Poké Ball and told him, "You were awesome, Greninja. You're the first Pokémon of mine to beat an Elite Four Pokémon. You deserve a good rest." He then clipped Greninja's Poké Ball to his belt and waited for Malva to make her next selection. She did not disappoint him.

"Torkoal, it's time!" Malva cried.

She then tossed Torkoal's Poké Ball onto the field and it opened, revealing an orange tortoise-like quadruped Pokémon with a thick black shell with red holes in it that gave off a great deal of heat. Torkoal gave a cry as it landed on the battlefield and smoke was ejected from the nose and back of the Pokémon.

Ash did not waste any time choosing his next Pokémon. He knew that this battle was about to get very serious. He needed to be at his best and use his best if he were to have any hope of beating Malva. "Noivern, I choose you!" Ash cried.

He tossed his Poké Ball out onto the battlefield and out came Noivern, giving a loud cry as he took to the sky. He focused on Torkoal, remembering his own back at Professor Oak's ranch.

Malva began the battle by crying, "Torkoal, use Curse!"

Torkoal nodded and used Curse, a purple outline forming around the Pokémon for a few seconds before disappearing. Ash grinned as he heard Malva give the order. In the time since he had last been in Kalos, he had studied a great deal about certain Pokémon moves, Curse included. He had considered giving it to Snorlax, since when used by a non-Ghost-type Pokémon, it would cut the user's speed, but raise the user's attack and defense, but decided against it for the time being. However, the move had no effect on the user's Special Attack or Special Defense, which is what Ash was about to take advantage of.

"Noivern, fly into the air and use Hurricane on Torkoal!" Ash cried, pointing towards the Pokémon. "Attack from above."

Noivern nodded and immediately rocketed into the sky and began flapping his wings, creating a massive gust of wind that pelted Torkoal.

"Torkoal, use Stone Edge to block and then fire them at Noivern!" Malva cried.

Torkoal slowly nodded and tried to comply, but with her already slow speed being reduced even further by Curse, she was unable to erect the Stone Edge barrier before the massive winds generated by the Hurricane struck her and sent her staggering back several feet, the increased Defense having no effect on the Special Attack. Ash grinned as he saw his chance to inflict some major damage onto Torkoal.

"Noivern, keep using Hurricane on Torkoal! Keep it from attacking!"

Noivern complied with the command and kept unleashing more winds from the Hurricane on Torkoal. Torkoal eventually managed to erect a Stone Edge barrier over herself, to stop the winds, but Noivern had other attacks at his disposal.

"Noivern, use Draco Meteor!" Ash cried.

Noivern nodded and proceeded to open his mouth and unleash a large orange ball of energy into the sky. The ball of energy immediately split into a dozen smaller balls of energy that rained down onto the battlefield, directly striking Torkoal, who was hunkering behind the wall of Stone Edge. Torkoal gave a groan of pain as she endured the attack and she staggered in place, showing that she had sustained significant damage from the attack.

Malva could only look on in utter shock at what she was seeing. There was no way Torkoal should have been having this much difficulty against Noivern. It seemed as if her strategy of increasing Torkoal's attack and defense abilities was backfiring on her.

"Use Stone Edge to take down Noivern now!" Malva cried in desperation. "Noivern's weak against Rock-type attacks so one or two hits should do it."

Torkoal complied and launched the stones from Stone Edge at Noivern in an attempt to take him down. Noivern managed to dodge the first one with ease, for even aiming properly at a moving target that was not going all that evasive was becoming increasingly difficult. And Ash was about to make it that much harder on Torkoal.

"Noivern, go evasive and use Boomburst on Torkoal! Finish it off!" he cried.

Noivern complied with Ash's order and went evasive as Torkoal fired off the rest of her stones from her already deployed Stone Edge. She struggled to keep track of the quick and agile Noivern. Stone after stone was hurled up at Noivern, only for the dragon-like Pokémon to easily evade it. As more of Torkoal's stones were fired off against Noivern, more holes in her defense formed, giving Noivern ample opportunity to fire off Boomburst on her. The sound waves from Boomburst struck Torkoal squarely in the head, causing her to stagger back and fall to the ground. She struggled to rise to continue the battle, for she was not about to let Noivern show her up like this, not after it had taken two of Ash's Pokémon to take down Pyroar, with only one of them doing anything meaningful to her companion. Still, it was obvious that Noivern was stronger than he appeared and his ability to fly made attacking him much more difficult. To make matters worse, though, the sound waves from Boomburst also shattered the stones from Torkoal's Stone Edge.

For her part, Torkoal mustered all of the strength she could to stand and try to attack Noivern. Still, it was tougher than she thought since the Boomburst had inflicted more damage than she had anticipated and she realized that she was not going to win against Noivern. Malva must have realized this, too, for she then commanded, "Torkoal, use Flamethrower on Noivern. Just do as much damage as you can."

Torkoal nodded and unleashed a stream of flame towards Noivern. The stream of flame had not been enhanced by Curse, so when it struck Noivern, it inflicted only moderate damage to the Flying/Dragon-type Pokémon, which was better than Malva had expected. Noivern recoiled from the attack but was still able to fight. He decided that the time to finish off Torkoal had come and he zeroed in on Torkoal and fired off one more Boomburst, striking Torkoal in the head, the loud attack nearly deafening Torkoal. The blast sent the tortoise-like Pokémon skidding along the ground, the tortoise-like Pokémon eventually coming to a stop a few feet away, swirls appearing in her eyes, indicating that she was unable to continue the battle.

Malva then took out her Poké Ball and returned Torkoal to it, saying, "Don't feel too bad. Noivern had a type advantage and besides, we did what we needed."

She then clipped Torkoal's Poké Ball to her belt and looked over at Noivern, her expression changing from one of arrogant overconfidence to outright uncertainty. Noivern was not Ash's strongest Pokémon by a long shot and he had dealt with Torkoal far more easily than she had expected. In fact, she had expected to win that battle despite the type disadvantage. She then looked down at the Poké Balls containing her two remaining Pokémon: Chandelure and Talonflame. Both of them were at a disadvantage against the part Dragon-type Pokémon. Also, neither of the Pokémon resisted Noivern's Dragon-type or Flying-type attacks. This would especially affect Talonflame since, while she was fast, she did not have all that much base power or durability, something that either Noivern or any of Ash's other remaining Pokémon would quickly take advantage of. And to make matters worse, she had not taught Talonflame a move like Swords Dance, which could boost her attack.

While Malva was deciding which Pokémon to use, Ash saw this as his best chance to send help to Serena, for he knew that Serena would have a difficult time even against Team Flare Grunts should she be forced to battle them in an actual Pokémon battle. He first got out two Max Revives and administered them to Pikachu and Greninja. He then took out a Poké Ball and tossed into the air, crying, Talonflame, I choose you!"

Talonflame emerged from the Poké Ball and flew down to meet Ash. As soon as he arrived, Ash went over his plan. "Talonflame, take Pikachu and Greninja and head to Team Flare's Headquarters. Serena'll need all the help she can get," Ash told them.

The three Pokémon's eyes went wide with shock. "Pika?!" Pikachu blurted.

"You heard me," Ash told them more forcefully. Malva's only got two Pokémon left and Noivern, Hawlucha, and Goodra can handle them, or at least keep her occupied. Serena's in the belly of the beast. _She's_ the one that needs help right now."

The trio eventually nodded, knowing that there was no way to dissuade Ash from his decision. Pikachu hopped onto Talonflame's back and the bird took off into the air, the Fire/Flying-type Pokémon being able to carry Pikachu without trouble. Once they were high enough above the battle, Talonflame rocketed towards Team Flare Headquarters, Greninja running along the ground right behind them.

Malva saw Talonflame take off with Pikachu on his back and Greninja running behind them and she looked puzzled for a second before almost smirking. She initially believed that Ash was cheating and she could use that to claim victory in this battle. However, when she saw Talonflame had not entered the battle and was, instead, flying off towards Team Flare Headquarters, her eyes flashed with shock. Ash was sending reinforcements for the one that had gone to attack the headquarters directly. Serena, herself, may not have been that much of a threat, but that Talonflame, along with the Pikachu and Greninja, would most certainly be a significant boost to Serena's team.

She immediately took out her two remaining Poké Balls and tossed them into the air, crying, "Talonflame, Chandelure, go after that boy's Talonflame and take it down, by any means necessary!"

The balls opened and out came Malva's Talonflame and Chandelure. Talonflame and Chandelure immediately began to pursue Talonflame, but Ash had other ideas. Taking out his two remaining Poké Balls, he cried, "Goodra, Hawlucha, we need you!"

The Poké Balls opened and out came Ash's two remaining Pokémon. The Flying-type Pokémon then took to the skies to pursue Malva's Pokémon. Chandelure looked back and saw Ash's Pokémon gaining on her and she then cast a glance back down at Malva. Malva gritted her teeth. She knew that Talonflame was faster than Chandelure but if she sent her own Talonflame to go after him, she would be taking multiple super effective hits from Pikachu and Greninja. Still, even slowing down Ash's Talonflame could allow Lysandre to have sufficient time to fire the Ultimate Weapon.

"Chandelure, break off pursuit and deal with Hawlucha and Goodra," Malva cried. "Talonflame, you stop Ash's Talonflame and the others, no matter the cost!"

Chandelure's eyes went wide, the chandelier-like Pokémon looking over at Talonflame flying towards Ash's Talonflame, her eyes focusing on Pikachu. The chandelier-like Pokémon knew that Talonflame was no match for Talonflame, Pikachu, and Greninja, having a type disadvantage against two of those Pokémon. Malva was sending Talonflame to her defeat, or worse. Chandelure looked back down at Malva questioningly, but Malva reiterated, "Do it, Chandelure! We don't have a choice now! We can't let Ash's Pokémon attack Talonflame from behind. His Talonflame and the others are strong enough as is. We don't need both of you dealing with six Pokémon!"

Chandelure could see the wisdom in Malva's plan, but she still did not like it. She did not want to sacrifice Talonflame, which was what was going to happen, but she also realized that there was little choice. As such, Chandelure broke off her pursuit of Ash's Talonflame and decided to face off against the three Pokémon that were coming to support Talonflame.

As for Talonflame and the others, Malva's Talonflame rushed towards them trying to use Brave Bird on them, the blue aura of energy forming around the bird's body. The aura would not protect her from the ensuing attacks, though, as Pikachu and Greninja opened fire on Talonflame with Thunderbolt and Water Shuriken respectively. Pikachu was the first to score a direct hit on Talonflame, his Thunderbolt hitting her squarely in the face, electricity arcing across her body. To make matters worse for Talonflame, the Thunderbolt paralyzed her and she was unable to evade Greninja's Water Shuriken, which scored a direct hit on her from below and inflicted even more damage. Talonflame tried to move and perform an attack on Ash's Talonflame but was unable to do so. She could not even evade the next barrage of attacks from Pikachu and Greninja, who scored more hits on her. These last two hits were sufficient to take down the Fire/Flying-type bird. Talonflame fell from the sky and crashed into the ground, the swirls in her eyes indicating that she was unconscious.

As for Chandelure, she initiated the battle against Hawlucha, Noivern, and Goodra firing off a Confuse Ray on Hawlucha. The ray of light struck Hawlucha and he immediately stopped in midair, beginning to fly erratically and lash out at the air as if he were fighting a ghost of some sort. Chandelure then launched a Flamethrower at Noivern, but the part Dragon-type Pokémon swerved to the side and managed to evade the attack initially. However, Chandelure quickly swept the stream of flame towards Noivern and eventually scored a direct hit on it. Despite Noivern having a type resistance to the Flamethrower, Chandelure's Flamethrower still inflicted significant damage to Noivern and it slowed down and descended a bit before continuing its pursuit.

That left only Goodra, who unleashed a massive Dragon Pulse on the Pokémon. The blue pulse of energy lashed out at Chandelure and scored a direct hit on the chandelier-like Pokémon. Still, Chandelure was an Elite Four Pokémon and would not fall to a simple Dragon Pulse.

He then heard Malva cry, "Chandelure, use Shadow Ball on that Pokémon!"

Chandelure complied and unleashed a dark purple ball of energy on Goodra, inflicting significant damage to the Dragon-type Pokémon. The force of the attack sent him flying several meters through the air, the Pokémon landing on the ground and skidding a few more feet until he came to a stop.

"Goodra!" Ash cried as he rushed over to Goodra to check on him. Goodra, for his part, was struggling to stand, burns clearly marring his body, but the Pokémon had not fainted yet. Still, Ash knew that using Bide was out of the question.

Chandelure was about to finish off Goodra with another Shadow Ball when a volley of Draco Meteor struck the Pokémon from above. Chandelure recoiled from each meteor but did not suffer too much damage because Draco Meteor sharply lowered its user's Special Attack powers. Still, Malva did not want to take any more chances.

"Chandelure, finish those Pokémon with Shadow Ball. We can handle that Hawlucha at our own leisure."

Ash gritted his teeth as he looked down at Goodra, who had managed to stand but was still unsteady on his feet. Malva grinned as she watched Chandelure target those Pokémon. She was surprised, in a way, at how easy it was for her to defeat Ash. Still, his record spoke for itself. He was nothing more than an above average Trainer that had tremendous potential that was never tapped to its fullest. Had she been facing his absolute best team, she would almost certainly have lost. But with this team, she was about to defeat him despite her numerical disadvantage and the fact that she was not even using her strongest Pokémon, a Houndoom that could Mega Evolve.

Chandelure was about to finish the battle when a Thunderbolt slammed into her, electricity arcing all across her body. This was quickly followed by a barrage of stones from a Stone Edge. The Stone Edge was more than sufficient to take Chandelure out of the fight and cause her to faint.

Ash looked over and saw Clemont, along with Chesnaught, Heliolisk, Luxray, and Diggersby. Behind him, he saw the unconscious Pokémon of the Team Flare scientists, as well as their own unconscious forms.

"Is everyone okay?" Clemont asked.

"We should be," Ash answered, taking out some Hyper Potions and administering them to Sceptile and Noivern, as well as returning Hawlucha to his own Poké Ball to allow him to shake off the confusion before letting him back out. After a few seconds, Ash let out Hawlucha once more. He looked back at the scientists and asked Clemont, "How is your team looking right now?"

"We're fine. The scientists weren't very strong and we beat them pretty easily."

The two then looked over at Malva, who was seething over the loss to the two of them. "We won the battle," Ash declared. "Now, tell me what you meant when you said that _you_ made certain that Serena was not cut out for being a hero?"

"No," Malva answered in an even tone, having calmed down since her loss. "You had help in beating me. Had that Gym Leader not intervened, you would not have won! Besides, the explanation is quite sad, even tragic."

"But in the end, you still lost," Ash contested.

Malva thought about it and eventually gave a sinister grin and said, "You're right." She then paused before continuing, "Very well. I'll tell you the tragic secret of Serena Gabena and why she's not a hero despite being listed on Leaf's datapad as a Chosen Hero, just as you and many of your previous female traveling companions are."

Ash's eyes flashed at that statement and Malva knew she had him. She then began to tell her story, grinning as she spoke, waiting for the moment when Ash would realize just what had happened to Serena, the girl that he loved, and who loved him so much.

Meanwhile, Serena was making her way through Team Flare Headquarters with surprising ease. As she had entered the base, she had told Delphox to scan the base to see how many Team Flare Grunts and other Trainers were present. She was surprised when Delphox relayed that there were very few Team Flare Grunts and Admins remaining inside the base. It both gave her hope and concern, for while it would make reaching Lysandre easier, it also meant that he did not feel the need to have so much security inside the base. That could mean that the Ultimate Weapon was on the verge of firing, or that he felt that he was strong enough to defeat any intruders himself. If it was the latter, then she suspected that he had a Pokémon capable of Mega Evolution, as well as the corresponding stone needed to Mega Evolve said Pokémon.

When she had entered the base, she entered a large room with gray metallic walls full of computer terminals and screens. Scientists and Team Flare Grunts were hard at work doing everything they could to power up the Ultimate Weapon as quickly as possible. Upon her entering the base, the scientists and Team Flare Grunts immediately turned to face her, prompting her to turn to Delphox and command, "Delphox, use Psychic on the Team Flare forces. Put them to sleep but don't kill them!" She was careful to make sure that no one died, despite the danger that Team Flare posed to the world.

Delphox nodded and used Psychic on the Grunts located in the main hall. Blue fields of energy surrounded each of the Team Flare Grunts and they were telekinetically lifted into the air. Delphox kept hold of them, closing their carotid arteries until they passed out, then released them and lowered them to the ground. The Grunts grasped at their throats, seemingly trying to be able to breathe again, even though it was their carotid arteries that were closed, but it was to no avail and they were quick to lose consciousness.

While Delphox was dealing with the Team Flare Grunts, several scientists rose from their stations and deployed several Pokémon, mostly consisting of Manectrics. "Swampert, I need you!" Serena cried, tossing a Poké Ball into the air.

The ball opened and Swampert emerged from the ball, landing on the ground with a thud, giving out a cry as it landed on the ground. The scientists grinned at the sight of Swampert, viewing it as being merely as Water-type Pokémon, rather than the Water/Ground-type that it actually was.

"Manectric, use Thunderbolt!" the scientists cried to their Pokémon.

The Pokémon obeyed the scientists and immediately proceeded to unleash numerous bolts of lighting on Swampert. Swampert took the attacks and did not flinch at all as electricity arced across its body, but inflicted no damage to it at all. The scientists' eyes went wide at the sight, shocked at the fact that Swampert was unaffected by the Thunderbolts. Serena did not give them a chance to use another move.

"Swampert, use Earthquake on the Manectrics. Take them all down," she commanded.

Swampert eagerly obeyed and stomped the ground, causing it to shake. Rings of energy traveled through the metallic floor, shaking the entire room, causing tables to shake and chairs to fall. Some of the computers were shaken off of their tables, where they fell to the ground, some of their monitors breaking and others suffering other types of damage. The scientists also found it difficult to keep their footing, several of them falling over. The Manectrics suffered far more than the scientists, though, the Pokémon being weak to the Ground-type attack. The rings of energy washed over them and the internal damage they sustained was sufficient to render them unconscious.

With the Pokémon having been dealt with, Delphox scanned the scientists for any who may have still been conscious. Finding one, Delphox used Psychic to pull him forward towards herself, Serena, and Swampert. When the scientist arrived, he was suspended in midair. Serena then stared into the scientist's eyes and glared at him.

"Where's Lysandre?" she asked in no uncertain terms.

"He's through the door up the stairs and to the left," the scientist answered quickly. "Just follow the corridor all the way to the basement."

Serena looked over at Delphox to see if the scientist was telling the truth. She nodded, indicating that the scientist was being truthful. Serena then steeled herself and made her way up the stairs, ignoring a large black cylinder that was likely a conduit for the Ultimate Weapon, and made her way through the door to the left, taking her deeper into the base.

Meanwhile, Leaf, Donkey Kong, and Diddy Kong rode in the barrel of Funky Kong's Barrel Plane as they made their way towards the mysterious tree in Viridian Forest. They had just arrived in Kanto, Funky carefully watching to make sure that Team Rocket was not searching for them on the off chance that the Team Rocket jet had gotten off a signal before it had been shot down. So far, though, the coast was clear and Funky figured that they were in the clear.

The barrel's confines were cramped and Leaf had to huddle together with the two Kongs in order for her to fit, the barrel compartment originally being designed for just one passenger. Still, with Diddy Kong resting on Donkey Kong's back, the group was able to fit into the compartment. Thankfully, the barrel had windows so Leaf could see what was going on outside. So far, there were no further signs of Team Rocket or Watchmen activity, so it seemed as if they were in the clear, at least for the time being. Still, she had a bad feeling about those mysterious trees. She had returned Starmie and clipped its Poké Ball back onto her belt shortly after entering the barrel. After some time, during the trip to Viridian Forest, she went to work taking off the seals of her other Poké Balls and unlocking them, too, which would allow her to let out her Pokémon without a problem once the plane landed and she disembarked.

As the plane was continuing its journey, Leaf activated her Pokétch and tried to see if there were any further news stories on the mysterious tree. So far, there were no further reports on the trees, either on the mainstream news or on the internet. She sighed as she put it in sleep mode, only having the telephone app active.

"Hey DK, did you contact Captain Falcon about everything going on here?" she heard Diddy ask Donkey Kong.

"Yep," Donkey Kong answered. "He says he'll meet us in Viridian City just outside of the forest."

"Captain Falcon's coming?" Leaf blurted, making no attempt to hide just how much she still idolized him.

"Sure is," Donkey Kong answered.

"Is anyone else coming or is it just us?" was Leaf's next question.

"Just us," Donkey Kong shrugged. "Everyone else that would've been available is still fighting in the GF Civil War.

Leaf thought back to the events in Kalos and how she had been betrayed by Ash and captured by Team Rocket. She could not help but think that something bad was going on in Kalos and that Ash and the others had been deceived, probably by Team Flare, into believing that she was a criminal. She would not have been surprised if the real threat was actually in Kalos and not in any of the other regions. However, with her being in Kanto, and all of the other regions, save for Kalos, having reports of these mysterious trees that seemed to be draining the life out of the areas where they were growing, she knew that she would have to deal with this threat before heading back to Kalos and hopefully helping Ash against the threat there, assuming he had not already dealt with it. He did, after all, have a Greninja with a special type of evolution. She would have felt better if he had brought along Charizard and Sceptile as well, though, since they were some of Ash's strongest Pokémon.

The rest of the plane ride was uneventful, Leaf merely making sure that her Pokémon friends were okay. She would most certainly need their help in dealing with whatever was going on with the trees. When they neared Viridian Forest, Leaf looked out the window and could see the mysterious tree off in the distance. The tree was significantly larger than she had remembered it being on the newscasts in Kalos. More importantly, the area surrounding the tree seemed to be completely barren and devoid of life, for it looked to be a deathly grayish brown. The party also noticed that there were large numbers of suspicious looking vines growing on the tree, putting them on edge.

As they got closer to the tree, they heard the voice of Funky Kong say over the loudspeaker, "We're nearin' Viridian Forest, dudes and dudette. You wanna a slow landing or do you wanna be shot out of the barrel cannon for a quick arrival?"

"Are there any signs of trouble down there?" Leaf inquired, her voice ringing out in the cramped barrel.

"None that I can detect," Funky answered.

"Then set us down close to the tree but don't get too close. If the tree has some sort of active defenses, we don't want to set them off."

"Got it."

The plane descended as they neared the tree, Funky being careful to not pull up too close to it. He landed in a clearing that was still in a part of the forest that had not been drained of its life. Once he landed, Leaf, Donkey Kong, and Diddy Kong disembarked from the plane.

Once they were off the plane, Donkey Kong told Funky, "Fly a holding pattern around the tree. If we run into unexpected trouble over there, we may need your help. Also, keep a lookout for us and tell us if any suspicious characters come up."

"Don't worry, dudes, I'll keep a lookout," Funky assured him.

He then took off and began to fly a pattern around the tree and its surrounding area as the trio made their way towards the tree. As they were making their way towards the tree, they heard the familiar sound of an F-Zero machine approaching. Turning around, Donkey Kong saw a blue F-Zero machine fast approaching. The machine was familiar to all of the party, for it was none other than the Blue Falcon piloted by none other than Captain Falcon. It pulled up to the party and came to a quick stop that seemed to be unnaturally quick. The canopy then opened and Captain Falcon jumped out of the machine. When he landed, he saw the party and gave them a smile and greeting salute. Leaf and the others gave him wide grins in return.

"Looks like the party's back together," he noted casually. "It's been almost two years."

The group nodded. While they normally would have taken the time to catch up, they each knew that time was of the essence and would catch up with each other once the threat had been neutralized.

"So, what's going on with these trees?" he asked. "The news reports have been sketchy at best."

"We don't know anymore than what has been on the news," Leaf answered. She then showed him the surrounding area, which was barren, and the area seemed to be increasing. "But as you can see, the area around the tree is completely barren, and it's growing. It's almost certainly draining the life of the surrounding area and growing off of it. We've gotta find a way to stop this and if we do, we've gotta tell the others how to do it with their own trees, too."

"How many others are there?" Captain Falcon asked.

"At least five," Leaf answered. "There have been reports of trees in other areas of America with unconfirmed reports of trees in England, Russia, and South America, too."

Captain Falcon nodded. "Then we can't waste any time." He then went into his machine and took out some spare Ray Guns, Super Scopes, and Beam Sword hilts and gave them to the rest of the party until they were fully equipped. "We may not need all this gear, but it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it."

The others nodded in agreement and took the arsenal offered by Captain Falcon, the group singing the Super Scopes over their shoulders and holstering the other weapons. Once they were ready, they proceeded to make their way towards the tree, Funky Kong flying over the area, ready to contact them if he saw anything suspicious.

Meanwhile, back in Geosenge Town, Serena was making her way through the twisty corridor in the sublevels of Team Flare's Secret Headquarters. Despite not being a battler, or having much battle experience, the Team Flare Grunts and Admins that she had faced had been beaten quite easily, though that was mainly due to her team's superior numbers. Serena, knowing her limitations, did not engage the Team Flare Admins and Grunts in normal battles, but always had her full team take down her opponents before they could get in good hits. Even with her strategy, though, Pangoro and Sylveon had fainted at points during the battles, forcing her to use Max Revives to get them back in the fight.

She was making her way past the final pair of Team Flare forces when she administered a Max Revive to Delphox, the part Psychic-type having been blindsided by Houndoom and Scrafty. Once she had administered the potion to Delphox, the bipedal fox-like Pokémon's eyes shot open and she immediately stood up and looked around, still being on guard since she did not know that the battle was over.

"It's okay Delphox," Serena assured her. "The fight's over. We won."

Delphox let out a sigh but still continued to scan the base to see if there were any other occupants. Surprisingly, there seemed to be no one left, save for Lysandre, but she was not certain of even that since there was an area ahead that she was unable to get an accurate scan of. Still, Serena led the way down the twisty corridor, heading down several more flights of stairs until she came to a door that seemed to be locked, for she gripped the knob and attempted to twist it, but it would not budge.

Looking over at Delphox, she asked, "Can you open this?"

Delphox nodded and used Psychic to unlock the door so Serena could open it. Once it was open, the pair made their way through.

When Serena entered the room, it was dark. She could see the outline of two Pokémon present, seemingly standing side by side. Behind them was a machine with tubes lined with red lights that led to the ceiling. She then looked back at the Pokémon and saw the glowing antlers of one of the Pokémon, causing her to realize that she was in the presence of the Legendary Pokémon Xerneas and Yveltal. She gasped at the sight as she immediately drew out Swampert's Poké Ball, knowing that Swampert did not have any type disadvantages against the two Pokémon and that he was the one who was the best battler, besides Delphox.

As soon as she drew out the Poké Ball, four Team Flare Admins stepped out of the darkness and into the light, each one grinning at Serena. She then took out a second Poké Ball and was about to engage them when a loud, "Hold," rang out over the room.

The lights suddenly came on and the Admins turned back and saw Lysandre standing next to Xerneas and Yveltal. He looked down at the Admins and told them, "Go to the base's entrance and keep this girl's friends from reaching us."

"Yes, sir," the Admins stated as they then rushed out of the room, leaving Lysandre alone with Serena.

Lysandre took a few steps towards Serena and looked at her appraisingly as she held her two Poké Balls and Delphox stood beside her. "So, this is the hero that was destined to stop Team Flare," he said as he looked down on her. "All I see is some pop idol who stands no chance of stopping us at all."

"We'll see about that," Serena declared as she opened her Poké Ball and let out Pangoro.

Lysandre gave a dark grin. "Yes, we will," he said in answer as he held out a Poké Ball of his own. The battle for the fate of the world had begun.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

Ash and Clemont stared at Malva in utter disbelief at what she had told them, their mouths agape. She must have been lying. "You're lying!" Ash accused, pointing at her. "There's no way anything you've told me is true!"

"Denial isn't just a river in Egypt," Malva chastised mockingly. "You've undoubtedly heard that saying. I know it's old, several centuries old, in fact, but it rings true here. You don't have to like it; you just have to realize that it's true."

"No!" Ash cried. "I refuse to believe that everything Serena has done and felt has been due to mind control!"

"Not everything was," Malva explained. "Some of her feelings were, indeed, genuinely her own. However, her dreams were the ones we made for her. She was supposed to be the hero that was destined to defeat us. Thanks to the Malamar Cult, she ignored her destiny to follow a false dream that was never her own."

"But why would you do that?" Clemont demanded. "How would having Serena be a Pokémon Performer and idol help your cause?"

Malva merely scoffed. "You know, for a genius, you sure are an idiot." That statement took Clemont aback, but he did not lash out at Malva. When she saw him keep his composure, she decided to elaborate on what she meant. "She didn't help our cause directly. She helped by _not_ being there to stop us. She helped by _not_ being a battler that would have been able to defeat us in battle. By not being able to defeat us in battle, it made it so others would have to step in to fill her shoes; people like Calem, Shauna, Trevor, Tierno, Leaf, _you_."

Both Ash and Clemont gasped at the revelation. Malva then continued, "But we were able to deal with all of them." Turning to Ash, she declared, "You, Ash, were perfect for dealing with Leaf. Your betrayal of her was a pleasant surprise, _and_ , it kept her out of our hair and likely dealt with her permanently. She will never be a threat to us again. And for the record, she's not actually a criminal." That admission brought another gasp from Ash, something that caused Malva to grin. "We disguised ourselves as Sina and Dexio and caused you and Sycamore to think that she was a criminal, manufacturing evidence against her. With your help, Team Rocket was able to capture her, and if they aren't complete brain dead morons, they'll kill her. As for anyone else that could oppose us, we already killed Calem, Trevor, Tierno, Shauna, Alain, and Mairin. Again, the fact that Shauna was a Pokémon Performer was also a big help since it helped turn Serena away from battling, but the Malamar Cult began their work on her long ago, before you had even come to Kalos. The big thing, though, was that Serena could not support Calem. That isolated him. The Heroes of Kalos went their separate ways early on, just as we knew they would. Just as we intended," she added with a grin.

Ash could scarcely believe what he was hearing. Malva had admitted to deceiving them into betraying the one person that could stop them. Even worse was that _he_ was the reason she was captured by Team Rocket. _He_ was the cause of her likely demise. It was all his fault.

"How did you know this?" Clemont asked while Ash was still musing about what he had learned.

"You'll have to ask Lysandre," Malva shrugged. "He's the one with all the secrets."

"I still don't believe you," Ash declared, even though his belief in that statement was wavering.

"That's your problem," Malva retorted. "Either way, you managed to beat me, technically speaking," she added with a knowing smile, "so you can go on ahead, if you wish."

She then stepped aside, allowing them to pass, and gave a grin, which caused the two teens to wonder what she was talking about. She then pointed behind them and they turned to see a large number of Pokémon pressing Meyer's Mega Blaziken, Ampharos, and Professor Sycamore's Mega Garchomp back into Geosenge Town. They also noticed Meyer and Professor Sycamore engaging Team Flare Grunts in hand-to-hand combat on occasion. "Or, you could stay and help your father and friend," Malva added, looking at Clemont.

Ash looked over at Clemont and nodded. He then took out his remaining Poké Balls and told Clemont, "I'll go and help Serena. You help out your father."

"But Ash, what about you?" Clemont asked, looking worriedly at Ash, knowing that alone, he would have lost to Malva. Clemont had a feeling that Lysandre may have been even stronger than the former Elite Four member.

"I'll be fine," Ash answered. "I've got my Pokémon team to help me against Team Flare and Lysandre. We'll be fine."

Clemont then went over to Ash and gripped his shoulders. "When you get to Lysandre, do whatever it takes to stop him," the Gym Leader told his friend. Clemont then gripped Ash's shoulders. " _Whatever_ it takes."

Ash nodded almost grimly. He knew that there was a chance that deadly force would be required in order to stop Lysandre. The question was when the time came, would he be able to do what was needed to stop the Team Flare Boss? He had a feeling that Leaf or any of the other heroes would have been able to do so. _He_ was the one he was not so sure about. Either way, he knew what he had to do. Before leaving, though, he turned to Clemont and told him, "You take care out there, Clemont. You have a sister who's eagerly awaiting your return."

"Don't worry Ash, we'll make it," Clemont assured him. "All of us." He then gave Ash a confident grin.

Ash returned the grin and gave him a thumbs up. Clemont returned the thumbs up as Ash then turned to follow Talonflame, Pikachu, and Greninja towards Team Flare's Secret Headquarters. With Ash leaving the scene, Clemont and the rest of his team headed over to support Meyer and Professor Sycamore, Clemont letting out his Pokémon so they could all face off against the Team Flare force arrayed against them.

Meanwhile, back in Lumiose City, in Professor Sycamore's lab, Bonnie sat in a plush chair situated in the lab's main room. Cosette was doing some scans and doing everything she could to keep track of the news, listening for any indications as to what was going on in Geosenge Town since it had been a few hours since Ash and the others had left. So far, there were no news reports coming in of any strange activity. There was even a lack of reporting on the attack on the Pokémon League and later, Leaf. Cosette had figured that Malva had something to do with that, especially if she was still loyal to Team Flare.

As for Bonnie, she kept looking out a nearby window towards the west. She had tried to get some sleep, having washed up already and having dressed in her Tyrantrum pajamas, but she had been unable to sleep and had returned to the main room. Dedenne popped out of her satchel as she gazed into the distance, praying for her big brother's safe return, but fearing that he and the others were in over their heads.

"De-den-ne?" Dedenne asked Bonnie as she stared off into the distance.

It took her a few moments to realize that Dedenne had asked her something. She looked down at the Pokémon, her expression showing her fear that her father, older brother, or both might die on their mission. While a part of her wanted to join them on the mission, in her heart, she knew that her father and Professor Sycamore were right to keep her back at the lab.

"Sorry, Dedenne, I'm just worried about Big Brother and the others," she eventually answered her Pokémon friend.

After a moment, she noticed Sophie rush down the stairs seemingly in a hurry to talk to Cosette when she caught sight of the girl in the main room. Seeing that Bonnie seemed ill at ease, she entered the room quietly and watched for a moment before deciding to interrupt the girl.

"Hello Bonnie, am I interrupting?"

Bonnie looked back at Sophie and shook her head.

"Is it okay if I come in?" was the assistant's next question.

Bonnie nodded.

Sophie then entered the room and looked out the window. Despite it being late at night, the city was lit up, completely oblivious to the fact that Ash, Serena, Clemont, Meyer, and Professor Sycamore were fighting for the fate of the region, and possibly the entire world. People were walking from place to place, and the atmosphere caused Sophie to smile wistfully. For a second, she wondered if it was better to be ignorant of the threat facing the region, or if it would be better to have full knowledge of what could happen if Ash and the others failed. She then looked at Bonnie and could tell by the expression on the girl's face that she would likely have preferred the former.

"Can't sleep?" Sophie asked quietly, trying to make some small talk and get Bonnie's mind off of the danger her father and brother was facing.

"I'm worried about Father and Big Brother," the girl answered.

Sophie gave an audible sigh. "Yeah, me too."

She had more reason to worry than Bonnie, though, for she had discovered some disturbing facts that made the mission far more difficult for the heroes than it would have been otherwise. She looked down at Bonnie again and saw the fear in the girl's eyes, wishing that she could do more to help. A part of her did not want to make the report to Cosette that the evidence against Leaf had been manufactured and that it had been nothing more than an elaborate plan to get rid of the World Champion after their assassination attempt had failed. After all, Leaf was likely too far away for them to be able to help, assuming she would actually return to help them and not simply thumb her nose at them and let them face the danger on their own.

In the end, she decided to tell Cosette what she had discovered, though she wanted to keep it out of earshot of Bonnie since the girl had enough on her mind already. If she learned that her brother and father had given Team Flare its biggest victory this night and made the mission that much more dangerous, it may well break her.

"I have to go do one final patrol before turning in," she told Bonnie. "Tell me if you need anything."

"Thanks, I'm fine," the girl answered, though the anxiety in her eyes belied her true feelings.

Sophie then left and headed over to Cosette where she told Cosette everything that she had learned about the evidence against Leaf, speaking in a hushed tone so that Bonnie would not hear her. Cosette had let out an audible gasp as she heard the report. What the two assistants did not know was that Bonnie had decided to walk around the room and had caught enough of what the two were talking about to know that they had discovered that Leaf was no criminal and that someone, likely Team Flare, had manufactured the evidence against her.

"Oh no," she murmured as she heard the two women talking. Any chance of getting any sleep went out the window as she heard the report and she went back to the window, staring into the night, dreading that the worst would happen.

Meanwhile, back in Geosenge Town, down on the lowest level inside Team Flare's Secret Headquarters, Pyroar stood next to Lysandre, panting as Lysandre administered a Potion to him, a satisfied grin crossing the Team Flare Boss's face as he turned to see the battered and beaten Pangoro lying on the ground next to Serena, who was on one knee, soot marks and burns marring her clothing and exposed skin. The battle had been a slaughter. Pyroar had proven himself to be far stronger than Pangoro, who was the only Pokémon besides Swampert who had any real fighting experience or desire, despite his love of performing.

"Excellent work Pyroar," Lysandre congratulated as the fatigue immediately left the leonine Pokémon after the Potion had been administered. "But then again, I must say, it isn't much of an accomplishment beating up on a performer. Prepare yourself for the real challenge which is soon to come, albeit too late to stop the plan."

Serena struggled to stand, having taken a direct Flamethrower to the torso at the conclusion of the short battle, which had brought it to an unceremonious end, miraculously not catching on fire from the attack. Eventually, she managed to stand and stagger forward, managing to keep herself from falling. Lysandre smiled wryly at the girl's determination.

"So, there is a spark of the original Serena still inside of you," he noted. "Perhaps I was too quick to execute the Malamars."

"Why did you?" Serena asked.

"Because they had become liabilities," Lysandre answered. "They had a great deal of knowledge of the inner workings of Team Flare and, despite being part Dark-type, information could still have been tortured out of them. In addition, two of them had engaged and lost to Leaf and she knew that they had done something to her twin brother. She would have figured out what they had done to _you_ , too, soon enough."

"What _did_ they do to me?" Serena asked, her curiosity piqued.

Lysandre grinned. "They made you," he answered in a sinister tone.

"What do you mean by 'they made me'," she asked sternly.

"I mean that they made you into what you are today. They turned you into the Pokémon Performer and idol that you have become. You owe _everything_ to them."

Serena's eyes went wide at the revelation. "What do you mean? Why would you have them turn me into a Performer and give me a successful life, allowing me to fulfill my dream?"

"Because, your dreams of becoming Kalos Queen and an idol, are actually _my_ dreams of you becoming Kalos Queen and idol," Lysandre answered, giving a sinister grin.

Serena gasped at Lysandre's statement before scowling. "I don't believe you!" she declared forcefully.

"It doesn't matter," Lysandre shrugged. "You don't have the strength or skill to defeat me. Your true destiny will go unfulfilled and the world will be destroyed because of it."

"Why do you want to destroy the world?" Serena demanded.

"Because if humans and their legacy remain on the world, it will eventually be destroyed. I am saving the Earth."

"How? By wiping out all humans save for Team Flare?" Serena rebuked. "Team Flare consists of murderers, thieves, and people who are so narcissistic that even narcissists would gasp in horror!"

Lysandre gave a knowing grin. "Yes," he answered. "How funny it is that they are fighting for their own demise and they don't even know it."

"Then you don't want anyone to survive," Serena accused. "Anyone except _you_ ," she added.

"If I survive, it will only be due to my exposure to the energy of Xerneas," Lysandre admitted with a shrug, indicating that he did not care about his potential fate.

"And you're okay with that?" Serena blurted in utter disbelief.

"Yes," the Team Flare Boss answered casually, almost in disbelief that Serena could be so dense. "Why wouldn't I be? As a human, I am also part of the problem."

"You're definitely part of the problem, alright," Serena scoffed.

Lysandre gave no answer and simply turned to walk away. Delphox attempted to use Psychic to pull Lysandre towards her but Pyroar rushed towards Delphox, using what looked to be Tackle, but was merely the Pokémon rushing to attack with a non-Pokémon move. The attack knocked Delphox off her feet, though, forcing the Psychic-type to use her telekinesis to keep herself from falling backwards. She then levitated herself back onto her feet and stared at the leonine Pokémon. Lysandre then looked back at Serena, a frown crossing his face.

"Why do you want to destroy humanity?" Serena demanded.

"Why would I not?" Lysandre countered. "Look around you. The world is bracing for attack due to a war that _it_ started. Criminal organizations run rampant all throughout the Pokémon World. In Kanto, Team Rocket runs unchecked save by the intervention of Leaf. And even then, they come back due to the corruption inside the government. In Unova, Team Plasma attempted to separate the world of humans and Pokémon because humans treat Pokémon as nothing more than slaves, which is, sadly, understandable since humans created Pokémon."

"What?" Serena gasped, not believing the Team Flare Boss's statement. "No way. Humans didn't create Pokémon. Pokémon have been around since prehistoric times!"

"Ah, so that's what they're teaching right now."

"It's not being taught, so to speak, since it's common knowledge. Look at all the fossil Pokémon!"

"What of them?" Lysandre inquired.

"They're evidence of Pokémon existing in prehistoric times!"

"Are they?" the Team Flare Boss challenged. "How do you know that they're not there simply due to some humans traveling back to the past and engineering some Pokémon back there with the Pokémon getting out of control, killing the humans, but being too few in number for the species to become viable?"

"That's absurd!" Serena declared.

"Is it?" Lysandre challenged again. "Then answer me this; why is it that Pokémon did not start appearing in biological taxonomies until the year twenty seventy-four?"

"What do you mean?" Serena asked, beginning to worry that Lysandre _may_ have actually known something that she did not.

"Pokémon did not appear in biological taxonomies and textbooks until the year twenty seventy-four," Lysandre answered. "United Earth has more history on this, but from what my research has gathered, humans engineered Pokémon to be soldiers for them in World War Three. They came about to battle-readiness too late to have any significant impact on the war, but they were there for the War Against the PSI Aliens, which may explain the appearance of prehistoric Pokémon since various projects had humans either traveling off world, or to the past to escape the PSI Aliens onslaught and hopefully to give humanity warning of the impending invasion. So you see, humanity has committed many sins, not the least of which is playing God."

"And so the humans and Pokémon of today must die for a potential crime that was committed centuries earlier, in a time and culture that was entirely different from our own?"

Lysandre looked at the ground and gritted his teeth. Serena then thought she saw a tear escape his eye. "It is terrible that such magnificent creatures like Pokémon must perish along with the humans, but they are also a part of humanity's legacy. To ensure that humanity's legacy can never destroy this world, Pokémon cannot remain alive and roaming the Earth, and at a later date potentially make the same mistakes that humanity made. After all, Pokémon are fully sentient beings, a fact that United Earth has acknowledged since their initial creation."

Serena could scarcely believe what she was hearing. Lysandre was willing to condemn all humans and Pokémon on Earth to extinction because of the crimes of pre War Against the PSI Aliens Earth. Lysandre then turned back to the two Legendary Pokémon behind him and a screen soon lit up the entire basement room. On the screen, a large tree could be seen with vines drooping from its branches.

"Excellent, the Mortality Tree has blossomed."

"What is that?" Serena asked.

"It is one of the Mortality Trees, one of many spread all around the Pokémon World," Lysandre answered. "With these trees, I shall destroy the world, even should the Ultimate Weapon somehow be stopped." He then paused and turned back to Serena before continuing, "But I will not let the weapon be stopped. After all, the power up and firing sequence has already begun and cannot be stopped, not even if I wanted it to be."

Serena's mouth was agape. Had they failed already? What could she do? She quickly saw that there were several conduits that seemed to lead up towards the ceiling. An idea soon came to her mind. If she could destroy the conduits, then she could possibly deprive the weapon of the power needed to fire it, or at the very least, keep the damage from the weapon's firing to an absolute minimum.

She quickly went over to Delphox and whispered, "Delphox, use Psychic on those conduits behind the Legendary Pokémon and destroy them. Be as discreet as possible. I don't want to have to face off against two Legendary Pokémon."

Delphox did not nod, merely concentrating on the conduits behind the two Legendary Pokémon, which was more difficult than it looked since it appeared that Dark-type energy was flowing through the conduits. Yveltal must have either had its energy powering the weapon, which fit with what she had heard about the Ultimate Weapon. Unfortunately, as Delphox was attempting to damage or destroy the conduits, her actions were detected by Pyroar, who let out a roar to alert Lysandre to Serena's plans.

Lysandre took one look at Delphox and ordered, "Pyroar, use Dark Pulse on Delphox now!"

Pyroar nodded and fired off a pulse of purple energy at Delphox. Serena saw the attack and cried, "Delphox, dodge it now, and use Psychic on Pyroar, get it out of the way and continue to attack those conduits!"

Delphox nodded and levitated over the Dark Pulse, allowing it to pass harmlessly underneath her. Serena grinned. She may not have had much experience with Pokémon battling, but it seemed as if Lysandre did not have all that much experience, either, and she could learn quickly if need be. She would win this battle and stop Team Flare, or at least slow down his plans enough so that Ash and/or the others could finish it off.

As for the battle, Delphox attempted to use Psychic on Pyroar, but he was making Delphox's life difficult as he unleashed another Dark Pulse, forcing the Fire/Psychic-type Pokémon to go on defense and evade the pulses of Dark-type energy. "Delphox, keep trying to use Psychic!" Serena commanded. "If we can take him down, we can get back to trying to damage those conduits!"

"That won't happen," Lysandre countered. "Pyroar, use Hyper Voice!"

Pyroar gave a grin and emitted a piercing howl that seemed to cause visible ripples in the air in front of the Pokémon, coming straight for Delphox. The extreme noise forced Delphox to cover her ears to try to block out the pain while she had to use her psychic powers to block out the damage to her hearing. Even Serena had to cover her ears, the girl clasping her hands over her ears in an effort to try to get the sound to a level where it would not damage her hearing. She also prayed that she, herself, did not suffer any permanent hearing damage from the Hyper Voice.

While Delphox and Serena were dealing with Pyroar's Hyper Voice, Lysandre grinned, seemingly immune to the attack. He then looked over at Pyroar and nodded. Pyroar then approached Delphox until he was at point blank range of the bipedal fox-like Pokémon, the leonine Pokémon still emitting the piercing howl.

"Pyroar, finish it off with Dark Pulse," Lysandre cried over the din.

Pyroar obeyed without skipping a beat, almost as if this was his plan from the beginning. He powered the Dark Pulse in front of him, Delphox noticing the powering of the attack too late to do anything about it. Pyroar then fired the pulse at point blank range, scoring a direct hit on Delphox's chest. The pulse was too close for Delphox to be able to avoid it and the hit sent Delphox flying through the air. She landed on her back almost five meters away with a thud, skidding along the ground for a couple meters before coming to a rest. Serena went over to her and the first thing she saw were the swirls in Delphox's eyes, signaling that she had fainted. Lysandre grinned.

"This is what I meant by you not being able to fulfill your destiny," Lysandre explained. "You should have been able to defeat Pyroar. You should have been smart enough to know that Delphox was at a disadvantage against Pyroar and exchanged her for one of your other Pokémon, I think I would be right in naming either Swampert or Pangoro as suitable substitutions. As it is now, though, you have little chance of defeating us."

"We'll see about that!" Serena retorted. She then went over to the fainted Pangoro and administered a Max Revive to it. The moment, she revived the Pokémon, she pointed to Lysandre's Pyroar and cried, "Pangoro, enter stage front!"

The massive panda bear-like Pokémon then rose and rushed out in front of Serena, staring at Lysandre's Pyroar. Lysandre looked indifferently at Serena. "So, a spark of the original Serena still remains. Soon, that spark will be extinguished."

"I'd like to see you try," Serena challenged as she took a fighter's stance, as did Pangoro, eager to start the battle.

"You will," the Team Flare Boss noted casually as he looked over at Pyroar and said, "They're all yours."

Pyroar then gave a confident grin and approached Serena's Pangoro. He had beaten Pangoro once, he could do it again. Serena and Pangoro then steeled themselves for the battle that would decide the fate of Kalos.

Back outside, Ash made his way towards Team Flare's Secret Headquarters, having managed to catch up to Talonflame, Pikachu, and Greninja. Unsurprisingly, there were a number of Team Flare Grunts in front of him that still had some fight left in them up ahead. He figured that they must have hidden themselves, allowing whoever was inside the base to deal with Serena since they did not seem to view her as a threat. He shook off the thought. That would be the epitome of arrogance and foolishness. After a moment, though, he thought back to what Malva had said and began to wonder if she was, indeed, telling the truth. It could explain why the Team Flare Grunts had been hiding and she only faced a token defense, just enough to not arouse any suspicion of any ulterior plans being in the works. He ignored the feeling. He knew that he had a job to do and he would do it, even if he only had half of his team at the ready.

The Team Flare forces opened up the battle by letting out an assortment of Pokémon, mostly consisting of Golbats and Litleos. Ash could only grin. This would not be too difficult for him to deal with.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on the Golbats," he commanded. "Take out as many as you can, as quickly as you can. Greninja, you use Double Team and then use Water Shuriken to deal with the Litleos. Talonflame, you help out Pikachu against the Golbats."

The Pokémon nodded and went about executing Ash's battle plan. The Litleos and attempted to attack first, only for Pikachu to unleash a series of Thunderbolts their way, electrocuting them and causing many of them to fall out of the sky before they could even launch an attack, the Pokémon crashing to the ground, unconscious, electricity still arcing across their bodies.

The Team Flare Grunts swore at the sight and then pointed at Ash's Pokémon, screaming, "Golbat, use Confuse Ray on them!"

The remaining Golbats obeyed, unleashing a volley of Confuse Rays on Ash and his Pokémon. Fortunately, though, Ash and his Pokémon were able to evade the attacks, the Pokémon closing their eyes and going evasive, Talonflame taking flight with Pikachu on his back so that the flashes of light passed underneath them. Greninja avoided the attack by having one of his illusory copies take the hit. He then feigned confusion by dispelling the Double Team and throwing Water Shuriken everywhere. As the Litleos went in to take on the 'stricken' Water/Dark-type Pokémon, Greninja revealed his deception as she unleashed a barrage of Water Shuriken at the closest of the small leonine cub-like Pokémon. The stars of water completely engulfed one of the Litleos and sent it flying backwards into another, both Pokémon taking the Water Shuriken and being knocked out. Greninja then tossed a volley of Water Shuriken all around himself, managing to tag each of the Litleos, rendering them unconscious. As for Talonflame and Pikachu, the two finished off the remaining Golbats with a barrage of Thunderbolts and a stream of Flamethrower. Within seconds, the battle was over, all of the Team Flare Pokémon having fallen to Ash's team. However, the Team Flare Grunts were not going to take this defeat lying down.

The leader of the Team Flare Grunts immediately took out an orb that looked like it could have been either grenade or a bomb of some sort and prepared to toss it over towards Ash. Pikachu and Talonflame saw this, though, and instantly fired off a Thunderbolt and Flamethrower respectively at the Grunt. The Grunt was instantly annihilated and the grenade also exploded, shredding the surrounding Team Flare Grunts with shrapnel from the blast, the few Team Flare Grunts not killed by the grenade's detonation lying on the ground, unconscious or clutching their wounds. Ash and his Pokémon did not care about their fate. He had to worry about the fate of the world. To that end, he rushed towards the entrance to the Team Flare base, Pikachu, Talonflame, and Greninja following close behind him.

Meanwhile, over in Kanto, Leaf, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Captain Falcon charged towards the mysterious tree. As they walked over the now seemingly desolate landscape, they noticed that the trees almost appeared to be turned into stone or a stone-like structure. She carefully made her way over towards one of the stone-like trees and examined it closely. She had heard that the power of a Legendary Pokémon from Kalos had the ability to drain the life energy from a life-form and turn its body to stone. Apparently, this tree had the ability to do this to a surrounding forest as well.

"Careful," she heard Captain Falcon caution as he approached, his Beam Sword ignited, the glowing red energy blade springing to life and emitting a low thrum. The blade also served to function as a flashlight that could illuminate the pre-dawn landscape. Captain Falcon, however, intended it for use against anything that attempted to accost any member of the party. He also had his Ray Gun at the ready, just in case they fell under attack from a distance. He wished that he could use his F-Zero Machine to take them closer, but they would not have all fit inside, and he also had a bad feeling that the tree would have reacted more violently to a vehicle approaching, rather than someone on foot.

Leaf took out three Poké Balls and proceeded to let out her flight capable Pokémon: Garchomp, Starmie, and Chandelure. "You three keep to the air," she told them. "While we're able to step on the ground, so far, I'm not sure that's going to last. If that changes and the ground starts becoming dangerous, I don't want you having your life energy drained."

The Pokémon nodded and Garchomp immediately took to the air, spreading her arms out like wings and rocketing forward. Starmie and Chandelure quickly went on ahead in order to cover Garchomp as well as try to scan the tree for defenses and report back to the group. Still, Leaf had a bad feeling that if the tree did have attributes of Xerneas and Yveltal, that it would be exceedingly difficult to identify a weakness and take down since it would be able to block or confuse any of Starmie or Chandelure's scans. It also did not help that if it _did_ have active defenses that they would have a type advantage over both all three Pokémon that she had just sent out. Still, she did not want to risk the rest of her team on potentially dangerous terrain. She would take the potential hit before risking them.

As the group moved forward, they began coming across more disturbing scenes, for the petrified forms of life were no longer limited to the dead trees and bushes that it had been before. Now, they were coming across the stone outlines of numerous Pokémon, mostly Weedles and Caterpies, but there were the outlines of a few Pikachus as well as some Pidgeys. Leaf and Captain Falcon stopped for a moment to offer a silent prayer for the petrified Pokémon, hoping that when the tree was dealt with, that they could be saved. As they continued on, they began to see the petrified forms of Trainers. Leaf approached the Trainers to see if she could find any identifying characteristics on them, being careful not to touch any part of them, lest she risk being petrified just as they were. Two of the Trainers appeared to have uniforms with stylized Fs on them. She began to wonder if these petrified Trainers had been members of Team Flare, for the Fs resembled the stylized F on the helicopter that she had shot down in Kalos.

The moment she saw the Fs on their uniforms, she called out to her Pokémon friends, "Starmie, Chandelure, scan the area for any Team Flare Trainers. I just found two what look to be petrified Team Flare members down here."

Starmie and Chandelure nodded and proceeded to scan the surrounding area. As they did so, Leaf looked back to the Kongs and Captain Falcon, informing them of the situation. "Guys, I just found what looks to be two Team Flare Trainers petrified here."

Captain Falcon rushed over to join her and closely examined the petrified form of the Trainer, careful not to touch him, and he was able to make out the F on the uniform as well. "This definitely looks like a Team Flare member," he said, looking over at Leaf.

"You've heard of them?" she asked.

"A bit," Captain Falcon nodded. "They made the news a year or so back. It was said that they tried to destroy the world, only to be stopped by a small group of Trainers, one of them being named Ash Ketchum, who was on that datapad we received two years ago about Chosen Heroes." His mention of Ash's name caught Leaf's attention and she raised an eyebrow.

"Ash stopped them?" Leaf asked, her eyes flashing with surprise. She never would have expected Ash to have stopped a criminal organization like Team Flare if they were competent, at least, not the Ash she saw when she was in Kalos.

Captain Falcon nodded, though he was quick to note that Leaf seemed to recognize the name. "You know him?" he asked.

Leaf immediately gasped and blushed, uncertain of what to say. "A bit," she eventually admitted. "He has the potential to be a great Pokémon Trainer; one of the best, but he never uses his strongest Pokémon on one single team. That has always held him back and he doesn't realize it. In addition, his IQ changes daily. One day, he's brilliant, the next, he's a complete moron."

"So you know him pretty well, it seems," Donkey Kong commented.

"Not _that_ well," Leaf answered, crossing her arms and looking back at DK, suppressing a scowl. "At least, not anymore," she muttered inaudibly, but Captain Falcon seemed to pick up on what she had said. She then looked around and told the others, "Anyway, we'd better head on over to the tree. If that thing's the problem, and I'm almost certain it is, we've gotta find some way to stop it and/or destroy it before its life-draining effects spread towards any nearby towns or cities."

The others nodded and quickly followed Leaf as she led the group towards the tree. As they made their way closer to the tree, she found more petrified human figures. They looked to be of Pokémon Trainers, for she could see Pokémon League caps on the heads of several Trainers. They all had expressions of horror on their faces as they were looking down their feet or at their hands. Some were even looking at each other or appeared to be running from the scene. They also came across several pieces of what would have looked to be stone statues. They were easily able to make out the heads of former Trainers as well as shattered bodies lying on the ground. Leaf's eyes went wide with surprise and an uneasy feeling came over her. Looking back, she could see that Captain Falcon and the Kongs felt the same way. The group then slowed down, fearful that every step closer brought them closer to whatever force had petrified the Trainers and shattered some of them.

Leaf reached into her backpack and took out her Pokédex and used it to scan the petrified bodies, hoping to find out what may have petrified them. She knew that it was a long shot, but since her Pokédex had been modified to be able to identify residual energy signatures, she may have been able to identify what they were either facing, or about to face. She scanned the bodies and, much to her surprise, as well as concern, the Pokédex was able to identify the energy signatures. The signatures were that of Flying-type energy, which surprised her. She would have expected it to either be Fairy-type or Dark-type in nature. She knew that Yveltal was part Flying-type and known as the Destruction Pokémon, but she had not expected the energy used to drain life from living things to be Flying-type in nature.

She then input a series of commands to the Pokédex to identify what Pokémon that had this energy signature. She was almost certain that it would come up as Yveltal, but she wanted to be absolutely positive. After a second, it did, indeed, come up as Yveltal. Captain Falcon and the Kongs came over and looked at the information on the Pokédex. She then had the Pokédex give her a readout on all known information on Yveltal. It was a Dark/Flying-type Pokémon of tremendous power. It could wield a wide variety of moves but among its strongest was Oblivion Wing, which could drain the life of an opponent and either cause it to wither or turn to stone. The party grimaced. The ground here must have been affected by Oblivion Wing. The only question was, how it had been delivered. Further information from the Pokédex indicated that Yveltal had an alternate form, that of a cocoon, something that surprised Leaf and the others.

"Hey, check out the entry for Xerneas," Donkey Kong eventually suggested. He wanted to test a hypothesis.

She input a new series of commands and the information soon came up on Xerneas. It was a Fairy-type Pokémon that was said to be able to share eternal life. Its entry also said that it could sleep for a thousand years in the form of a tree, something that the group was quick to take note of. They then looked up at the massive tree before them, scarcely believing that a Pokémon that was capable of sharing eternal life would be taking it from people.

"You sure the Pokédex didn't mix up its entries?" Diddy Kong asked.

"I updated it two days ago," Leaf answered. "And it already had all of the Kalos Pokémon entries before the update. It wouldn't have such a glaring error. These entries are real."

"Then why is this tree draining life if the sleeping form of Yveltal is a cocoon while the sleeping form of Xerneas, which is supposed to _grant_ life, is a tree?" Captain Falcon asked.

"I don't know," Leaf answered. "If I had to venture a guess, I would say that someone genetically engineered that tree, and probably the other trees like this around the world as well, with DNA from both Xerneas and Yveltal. Genetic engineering of Pokémon has been done before. The Fossil Pokémon, Genesect, even Mewtwo are all examples of Pokémon that are either cloned or have been genetically engineered. Who's to say that someone couldn't engineer a Pokémon, or other life-form, to have both the attributes of Xerneas and Yveltal?"

"Who indeed?" Captain Falcon echoed. "Now the question is who would do such a thing?"

"Who cares about that?" Donkey Kong blurted. "What we need to do now is take that tree down!"

"How?" Captain Falcon asked. "We don't have the firepower for _that_!"

"Guys, I think we need to be asking ourselves a bigger question," Leaf chimed in.

"Such as?" came the others.

"Such as, why we aren't having our own life energy drained from us when all of the other life-forms around here have."

The rest of the group stopped their pseudo argument and looked around, quickly echoing Leaf's question. The group still had a bad feeling that they were going to get an answer far sooner than they had wanted. They were proven right when the ground began to shake underneath their feet.

"Steady everyone," Captain Falcon called out to the rest of the party. "Be ready for anything." He then drew his pistol and Beam Sword hilt, igniting the blade.

The rest of the party followed his lead and drew their weapons, ready to engage against anyone, or anything that may have been coming at them. Leaf's flight capable Pokémon also either flew holding patterns around them or floated above them, ready to cover them at a moment's notice. As they approached the tree, the ground began to shake and the quartet immediately went on guard.

In less than a second, several root-like structures erupted from the ground and lashed out at the heroes. The heroes retaliated by swinging their Beam Swords to cut the root-like structures that lashed out at them as they came. The energy blades easily sliced through the wooden roots, causing the severed ends to fall to the ground and cease moving. The root ends that were still connected to the tree, continued to lash out at them, but they seemed to move more slowly, almost as if they were in pain. Still, that did little to stop the next onslaught of root-like structures.

The heroes quickly took advantage of the situation and leveled their Ray Guns at the next wave of roots and fired at them, the beams burning through the roots and causing them to fall, almost as if they had been shot through the heart. Still, for each root they felled, two more took their place. That was when Leaf's Pokémon attacked from above.

Starmie initiated the counterattack by firing an Ice Beam straight at the ground, covering it in a sheet of ice. Several roots appeared to try to rise up from the ground, only to hit the ice and bounce off of it. A second series of root-like structures lashed out at Garchomp, who quickly went to cut them with Dragon Claw. However, when she went to cut them, something happened that she did not expect. Her claws struck the root and inflicted no damage to them at all. It was as if Garchomp had hit them with a Nerf bat. Leaf looked up at the scene in shock before realizing that Garchomp was basically helpless against the roots if they latched onto her, which they did. The roots ensnared Garchomp and wrapped around her body and began draining her of her life energy.

Starmie would not stand for this, though, and stopped firing its Ice Beam and targeted the roots, unleashing a Thunderbolt on them. The bolt of lightning struck the roots and electricity arced across them as they writhed before withering before the attack, allowing Garchomp to break free. Still, she was too weak to remain aloft and she fell towards the ground. Leaf took out her Poké Ball and immediately recalled Garchomp to the Poké Ball. Once she had recalled Garchomp, she stepped aside and let Garchomp out of the ball once more. Once Garchomp was out, she went over to the Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon and administered a Full Restore to her. Once Garchomp had taken the Full Restore, she gave a cry, indicating that she was ready to continue the fight. Still, the incident had taught Leaf something valuable about the tree and its roots. They were also brimming with the energy of Xerneas as well. That meant that they probably had an advantage when dealing with Dark-type attacks and were likely effective against Dark-type and Psychic-type Pokémon, but would not be all that effective against Poison-type or Fire-type Pokémon. She grinned. It was time for her to bring out her not so secret weapon.

"Venusaur, stand by for battle!" she cried as she tossed Venusaur's Poké Ball into the air. The ball opened and out came Venusaur, who landed on the ground with a thud. "Venusaur, use Sludge Bomb on those roots," she commanded quickly. Since the roots were laced with Fairy-type energy as well as the Flying and Dark-type energies of Yveltal, she suspected that Poison-type attacks could do a great deal of damage, and if they poisoned the roots, then they may also have a chance of poisoning the tree, itself. She then considered something and amended her order. "Venusaur, scratch that last command. Use Toxic on the ground. Make the ground toxic to the roots. Use that to clear a path to the tree, itself." She then looked up at Starmie and told it, "You cover the rest of us with Thunderbolt." Looking over at Chandelure, she continued, "Chandelure, you use Calm Mind to boost your Special Attack and Special Defense. I have a feeling we'll need everything we've got pretty soon."

Both Pokémon acknowledged her order and she then called out to the rest of the group, "Form up with me. Venusaur's going to clear a path to that tree and hopefully neutralize its threat in the process."

The Kongs and Captain Falcon did not have to be told twice, especially considering the fact that the charge on their Ray Guns was beginning to run low. They formed up with Leaf and the group followed Venusaur as he let out a Toxic spray that covered the entire area surrounding the group. Venusaur then trudged forward, letting out more of the Toxic spray, poisoning the ground. The group could see the roots retreating from the group, keenly aware of the danger posed by the Toxic spray. Leaf grinned. Venusaur's Toxic was like Roundup, only for supernatural trees and taken to the next level. Her plan was working.

The group continued to approach the tree, getting closer as Venusaur continued to spray Toxic around the entire area, making certain to douse the entire ground. Any roots that rose from unaffected areas were instantly blasted by Starmie's Thunderbolt. And those that managed to get through the barrage of Thunderbolts were met with a barrage of Ray Gun fire from the heroes. Slowly, but surely, the quartet was making their way towards the tree.

As they got close to the tree, they could see that it was the size of a small town and had numerous large branches on it that could hold houses on them. The group did not pay much attention to that, though. All they cared about was the fact that the tree was draining the life of the surrounding area and that it was growing in size. If left unchecked, it could be a threat to not only Viridian City but eventually to the entire Kanto Region as well.

As they were within visual distance of the tree's trunk, as well as a series of vines on it that they could use to climb it, they heard a loud cry from one of the branches. Looking up, the group saw a large reindeer-like Pokémon with multi-colored antlers stare down at them. The Pokémon was immediately recognized as Xerneas. Xerneas immediately jumped down from its perch and landed in front of the quartet. Soon, there was another cry coming from above the tree.

"Look alive, dudes," Donkey Kong heard the voice of Funky warn over the radio. "I've got the mother of all birds comin' straight at ya!"

The group looked up and saw the red and black form of Yveltal swooping down towards them. "We see him, Funky," Donkey Kong answered.

"You dudes be careful down there," Funky spoke over the radio. "Call me if you need any help."

"Stand by on that," Donkey said cautiously. "We'll probably be needing it soon."

As for Leaf and Captain Falcon, they stared at the two Legendary Pokémon and grimaced. Leaf looked over at the others and then told them, "Let me deal with this. I'm a Pokémon Trainer and am trained to handle these situations. Also, these aren't the first Legendary Pokémon I've come across, either."

The others nodded and backed off, giving Leaf room to fight. She then took in a deep breath and, taking out her two remaining Poké Balls cried, "Jolteon, Tyranitar, join the fight!"

She then tossed the Poké Balls into the air and out came Jolteon and Tyranitar, who landed with a massive thud that shook the ground. The rest of Leaf's Pokémon then descended to the ground to support their friends.

"Venusaur, you, Chandelure, and I will deal with Xerneas. The rest of you, take down Yveltal," Leaf directed. She knew that it was a risk to send a part Psychic-type Pokémon in Starmie against Yveltal, but she trusted Jolteon, Tyranitar, and Garchomp to be able to assist it if needed. And besides, its Ice Beam and Thunderbolt would be super effective against Yveltal anyway. And if Starmie could freeze Yveltal with Ice Beam, all the better. Still, she had no illusions that this would be an easy battle. This would be the battle of their lives. She stared at the Legendary Pokémon and then looked back at her own team and cried, "Engage!"

With that, her Pokémon team initiated combat against the Mortality Duo. The battle for Kanto, and possibly the Pokémon World, had begun.

Back in Kalos, Ash made his way through the Team Flare Secret Headquarters, having powered his way past the Team Flare scientists and Grunts standing in the main chamber. Despite the Team Flare forces having Electric-type Pokémon, they were no match for battle hardened Pokémon like Pikachu, Talonflame, and Greninja and they had been taken down with contemptuous ease. Once the Pokémon had fallen, Pikachu used Thunderbolt on the scientists and Grunts and rendered them unconscious.

After the first easy battle, Ash made his way through the twisty corridors of the base's sublevels. He faced significantly more resistance than Serena had, Lysandre rightfully considering him to the greater threat of the two heroes. The first band of resistance came in the form of a Team Flare Admin and a Grunt, who let out a Toxicroak and a Liepard.

Needing to get past them as quickly as possible, Ash did not give the Team Flare forces a chance to attack, merely commanding his team, "Everyone attack! Take out those Pokémon now!"

Pikachu, Talonflame, and Greninja obeyed, unleashing a withering barrage of Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, and Water Shuriken at the Pokémon. The combined assault was more than enough to take both Pokémon down as Talonflame swept his Flamethrower from Toxicroak to Liepard once the former had been beaten. Both Pokémon quickly fell to the metallic floor, electricity arcing across their bodies as they lay there, unconscious. Once the Pokémon fell, the Team Flare Admin and Grunt decided to take matters into their own hands as they reached into their jackets to pull out two guns to level at the boy and his Pokémon. Their plans were cut short, though, as Pikachu hit them both with a Thunderbolt, electricity arcing across their bodies, with the Grunt's muscles seizing up and her reflexively pulling the trigger, which caused the gun to discharge straight into her heart. The Grunt fell over to the ground, dead, while the Admin merely fell to the ground, unconscious at the very least. With that pair of Flares having been dealt with, Ash and his team surged down the corridor.

After a set of stairs and some twists in the next corridor, he came across the next source of resistance: another Team Flare Admin/Grunt duo. This duo grinned at the sight of Ash and quickly deployed their Pokémon: Manectric and Mightyena. Ash grimaced, suddenly wishing that he had not left Hawlucha back with Clemont. Still, he knew that these Pokémon would be no match for three of his best Pokémon that he had ever trained. Pikachu, Talonflame, and Greninja were quick to prove him right as they initiated the battle, catching the Team Flare Pokémon completely off guard. Pikachu started by firing a Thunderbolt at Mightyena while Talonflame and Greninja double teamed Manectric, Greninja using Double Team to create multiple illusory copies while Talonflame fired a Flamethrower at the Electric-type Pokémon, scoring a direct hit and taking it down with a single blow.

The Team Flare Admin grimaced but the fight was not done yet, for Mightyena had withstood Pikachu's Thunderbolt and was counterattacking, having used Take Down on Pikachu, the electric mouse deftly dodging the Take Down and retaliating with Iron Tail, which connected with Mightyena squarely on the head. The Team Flare Grunt, knowing that he had to at the least weaken Pikachu or one of the other Pokémon, cried out to Mightyena, "Mightyena, use Dark Pulse on that Pikachu. If we can weaken him, then the others can finish him off!"

Mightyena nodded and readied a Dark Pulse, firing a purple beam of energy at the electric mouse. Pikachu, however, deftly dodged the attack and fired off another Thunderbolt at Mightyena. Mightyena dodged this one, though and was going to fire off another Dark Pulse, only to run into a Water Shuriken hurled by Greninja. The Water Shuriken was more than enough to finish off the wolf-like Pokémon, Mightyena fainting from the attack. A couple of Thunderbolts from Pikachu later, the two Team Flare operatives were also down for the count. With two more Flares having been dealt with, Ash and the others continued their trek deeper into the base.

Not too far into the next area, Ash and his Pokémon came across the next Team Flare duo. This one was already prepared and had already sent out Houndoom and Scrafty. Upon laying eyes on Ash's Pokémon, the Flares cried, "Houndoom, use Flamethrower on that boy! Scrafty, use High Jump Kick on that Greninja!"

The Pokémon obeyed and Houndoom immediately unleashed a Flamethrower attack on Ash directly, while Scrafty attempted to use a High Jump Kick on Greninja. Ash was not caught unawares, though.

"Greninja, use Double Team to evade the attack and then use Water Shuriken on Houndoom. Talonflame, use Brave Bird on Scrafty. Pikachu, you help out with Scrafty as well with Thunderbolt!" Ash cried in counter.

His Pokémon obeyed and suddenly, there were over a dozen Greninjas in the corridor. Talonflame positioned himself in front of Ash and he intercepted Houndoom's Flamethrower, suffering minimal damage. Apparently, this Houndoom was not nearly as well trained as expected. As for Scrafty, it's High Jump Kick struck nothing but an illusory copy of Greninja, who then targeted Houndoom with a Water Shuriken, hurling the barrage of watery throwing stars right at the demonic-looking dog-like Pokémon. One volley was more than enough to finish off Houndoom and cause it to faint. Scrafty did not last much longer, crashing with its High Jump Kick, nearly breaking its own kneecap when it slammed its knee into the ground after missing Greninja. Talonflame finished the fight with a single Brave Bird, the flaming blue aura surrounding Talonflame as he collided with the stricken Scrafty, knocking the Dark/Fighting-type Pokémon unconscious. Electricity arced around Talonflame's body as he endured the recoil from the attack but he did not take too much damage, and with the Team Flare Pokémon having been dealt with, Ash had plenty of time to administer a Potion to him.

With the two Pokémon having been dealt with, Pikachu then knocked out the two Flares with a Thunderbolt attack. With the Flares having been beaten, Ash went over to administer the Potion to Talonflame, knowing that he would need the bird as he proceeded further into the base. Once his team was ready, he proceeded to make his way past the fallen Team Flare Grunts and headed further into the sublevels of the base.

He did not meet much further resistance until he reached the lowest level of the base. After traveling down to the lowest level of the base, he was met by four Team Flare Admins, who cut off his access to the room beyond. They already had their Pokémon deployed as well: Swalot, Golbat, Liepard, Manectric, Mightyena, and Houndoom. The Flares grinned.

"You're not gonna get past us as easily as that girl did," a female Admin warned. "We were ordered to hold back and let her pass. After all, the boss had somethin' he wanted to tell her in private." She then grinned. "As for you, however, we're free to do whatever we need to in order to stop you."

"Then give it your best shot," Ash challenged. "You don't look any tougher than the rest of the rubbish we've already dealt with."

"You're about to see just how wrong you are," another Admin cried.

"Everyone attack!" the four Admins cried in unison. "Swalot, use Sludge Bomb! Golbat, use Confuse Ray! Liepard, use Body Slam! Manectric, use Thunderbolt! Mightyena, use Dark Pulse! Houndoom, use Flamethrower!"

Ash could only grin as they called out their attacks. "Everyone go now!" he cried. "Take them down before they finish receiving their orders!" There was an advantage to having battle-trained Pokémon that had experienced numerous battles. His Pokémon, while not nearly as independent as Leaf's, were still able to use their main moves without being given orders. Pikachu opened the battle by unleashing a Thunderbolt on Golbat, taking it down with one hit before it could fire its Confuse Ray. Houndoom was next to fall, being felled by Greninja's Water Shuriken. Talonflame targeted Manectric due to it having a type advantage over both him and Greninja, firing off a Flamethrower. The Flamethrower scored a direct hit on Manectric and caused it to recoil, but it was not enough to finish off the Electric-type Pokémon.

The rest of Team Flare's Pokémon went to launch their attacks on Ash's Pokémon, Swalot firing off a barrage of Sludge Bombs on Greninja, hoping to score a lucky hit. Unfortunately, though, they only struck a group of illusory copies. This opened Swalot up to a combined attack by both Pikachu and Greninja, who unleashed a Thunderbolt and Water Shuriken respectively on the Poison-type Pokémon. The combined attacks were enough to finish off Swalot and cause it to faint. While Pikachu and Greninja dealt with Swalot, Talonflame finished off Manectric, his Flamethrower colliding with Manectric's Thunderbolt, the attacks stopping in midair for several moments before Talonflame's Flamethrower overpowered Manectric's Thunderbolt and the Flamethrower hit the Pokémon. The second Flamethrower was enough to finish off Manectric. That left only Liepard and Mightyena.

Mightyena had fired off its Dark Pulse on Talonflame, managing to score a direct hit on Talonflame. The force of the attack knocked Talonflame back a few feet but it did not inflict too much damage to the bird-like Pokémon. The same could not be said about Talonflame's retaliation.

"Talonflame, use Flamethrower on Mightyena!" Ash cried.

Talonflame obeyed and fired off the Flamethrower on Mightyena. The stream of flame scored a direct hit on Mightyena, as Mightyena had been powering up another Dark Pulse to fire on Talonflame. The single Flamethrower was more then sufficient to knock Mightyena unconscious.

As for Liepard, it attempted to charge Pikachu and Greninja and use Take Down to at least damage the Pokémon. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt; Greninja, use Water Shuriken," Ash cried.

The Pokémon obeyed and launched their attacks on the sole remaining Team Flare Pokémon. The end of the battle came swiftly, for Liepard was no match for the combined might of Pikachu and Greninja. With the Pokémon having been felled, Pikachu then shocked the Team Flare Admins into unconsciousness. With Team Flare having been dealt with, Ash made his way to the door and entered.

When he entered the room, he saw Lysandre standing before him. No longer was Lysandre merely in his standard uniform, he was wearing a machine that greatly resembled Clemont's Aipom Arm. In one of its claws, he held Serena, who was weakly struggling to get free. Her clothes looked to be covered with soot, indicating that she had taken a direct hit from a Flamethrower, or worse. When she turned her head and saw Ash, he could see tears streaming from her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said weakly. "I wasn't good enough."

Lying close to where Lysandre had grabbed Serena were all of her Pokémon, either unconscious or dead, given that some of the Pokémon, particularly Sylveon and Delphox had their eyes open and their expressions looked to be that of shock and/or pain, he feared the latter. Lysandre looked at the boy, his stern expression not wavering.

"She put up more of a fight than I would have expected of an idol," he stated nonchalantly. "However, she was, indeed, just an idol, not a real Pokémon Trainer. Not like you or Leaf. Besides, she had a lot on her mind. But then again, so do you. After all, you betrayed your greatest ally to your most hated enemy, and look what it's gotten you."

"Let Serena go!" Ash commanded, ingoring Lysandre's statement about his betrayal of Leaf. His Pokémon then stepped forward to reinforce his command.

Lysandre shook his head. "No," he answered curtly.

Ash did not back down. "You want to destroy the world and kill everyone in it. Why are you holding up Serena as a hostage?"

"Because she means a great deal to you," Lysandre answered. His answer caused Serena's eyes to flash. "Despite the tampering by the Malamars, your feelings for Serena were, indeed, real, if not necessarily romantic. The fact that you care about her gives me leverage over you."

Ash seethed. The Team Flare Boss was right. He looked past Lysandre and was able to make out the forms of Xerneas and Yveltal as well. He gritted his teeth. He knew that he was in an uphill battle against Lysandre and the two Legendary Pokémon arrayed against him. Still, he had a chance, albeit a slim one, to stop Lysandre.

"Lysandre, I challenge you to a Pokémon Battle!" Ash proclaimed loudly. "If I win, you let Serena go and shut down the Ultimate Weapon!"

"And if I win, I will destroy all sentient life in the world," Lysandre finished. "In addition, I will keep Serena and have the two of you watch as the world ends for humanity and Pokémon, at least allowing you to spend your last few moments of life together. As for the battle, we will use all of our Pokémon that we have here. No outside interference will be allowed."

"Deal," Ash growled as he stood ready for battle.

"Then let the battle begin," Lysandre proclaimed. With that, the battle to determine the fate of the world had begun.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

Ash waited for Lysandre to make his choice of Pokémon before choosing his own. Lysandre looked at each of Ash's Pokémon, doing his best to determine his best strategy for dealing with them would be. He focused on Noivern and Goodra and grinned, knowing that they were quite vulnerable to Xerneas. However, he was quick to notice Talonflame, though he also noticed Ash's Hawlucha and grinned some more. Over half of Ash's team was at a disadvantage against Xerneas, with none of his Pokémon having a real type advantage over it, with only Talonflame resisting it. That only left Yveltal, which could have some problems since Pikachu held a type advantage over it and had already once beaten a Mega Evolution. He also suspected that Greninja had Ice Beam, which was super effective against Yveltal, though Xerneas had an advantage over him. He was also concerned about Greninja evolving into Ash-Greninja, but would worry about that later. At the moment, all he needed to worry about was battling Ash's team with his own normal team. Casting his gaze over Ash's team, he quickly made his decision on which Pokémon he would send out first.

"Mienshao, come on out," Lysandre called as he tossed his Poké Ball into the air.

The ball opened and out came a white Pokémon with a long body and a small head with small triangular ears. It also had long whiskers and short legs and a long, skinny tail. Ash looked at it and considered his choice of Pokémon. Goodra was the only Pokémon of his that Lysandre had not seen in battle and he was type neutral against Mienshao. However, Ash did not want to give Lysandre a heads up on what he was facing or what strategy he would use with Goodra, either. That was when Greninja stepped forward and turned to Ash, nodding and grinning.

"You wanna battle Mienshao?" Ash asked. He had misgivings about having a part Dark-type Pokémon face off against a Fighting-type Pokémon, but if anyone could handle a type disadvantage, it was Greninja, especially since Mienshao was likely a close range fighter and Greninja could engage at any range, as well as the fact that Greninja could evolve into Ash-Greninja and still had Aerial Ace to fall back on if worst came to worst.

Greninja nodded. "Okay then, Greninja, I choose you!" Ash proclaimed, pointing towards Lysandre.

Greninja stepped out in front of Ash and stared down Mienshao. Once Greninja stepped out onto the battlefield, Ash focused on him and said, "Okay Greninja, it's time for our bond evolution!"

Greninja nodded and a torrent of water surrounded his body as his eyes began to glow once more. Almost immediately, Greninja took on some of the characteristics of Ash and he evolved into Ash-Greninja, increasing his power in the process. Lysandre merely grinned. "A Dark-type, even one that has a special evolution, against a Fighting-type? You should know better." He then called out to Mienshao, "Mienshao, use Swords Dance!"

Mienshao immediately began to spin around, keeping its arms. Ash grinned. While Mienshao was greatly increasing his attack power, Greninja had an opening where he could attack and he was going to take advantage of it.

"Greninja, use Aerial Ace on Mienshao!" Ash commanded.

Greninja obeyed and jumped high into the air, rushing towards Mienshao. Lysandre was unfazed by the plan, though, for Mienshao had already finished its Swords Dance.

"Mienshao, use High Jump Kick!" Lysandre ordered.

Mienshao grinned and prepared to jump straight at Greninja. Greninja saw the attack coming as Mienshao attempted to ram its knee into his head, he swerved to the side, allowing Mienshao to pass the frog-like Pokémon without making contact. Mienshao attempted to adjust its trajectory but was unsuccessful in doing so and it crashed into the wall behind Ash, the Pokémon grunting from the pain of the impact and clutching its knee. Greninja, seeing his chance, continued with his Aerial Ace and rushed towards Mienshao, his arms turning into blue glowing daggers. When he reached Mienshao, he repeatedly slashed at the stricken Pokémon. After a few slashes, Greninja prepared to make one final slash, only for Mienshao to jump towards him and drill him with a High Jump Kick, the Pokémon grinning as it attacked Greninja. The kick sent Greninja flying and he gave a grunt of pain, but the Pokémon flipped through the air and landed on his feet, ready to continue the fight. Despite landing a solid hit on Greninja, though, Mienshao clearly looked to be the worse off of the two combatants, something that Lysandre clearly saw, causing him to grimace. He decided that he had had enough playing around.

"Everyone, go!" he stated in a low, cold voice that was difficult for Ash to make out. "Take them out now while the boy's distracted."

Each of his Pokémon grinned and proceeded to enter the fray, picking their targets as they saw fit and attacking Ash's Pokémon. Pyroar went after Pikachu while Gyarados and went after Talonflame, leaving Honchkrow to assist Mienshao against Greninja. Honchkrow began to make his attack run on Greninja, only for Pikachu to intercept him with Thunderbolt while Greninja finished off Mienshao with Water Shuriken, knocking out the Pokémon with the spinning blade of water. Pikachu's Thunderbolt scored a direct hit on Honchkrow and knocked it to the ground, electricity arcing across the bird's body. A second Thunderbolt was more than sufficient to deal with Honchkrow.

While Pikachu was dealing with Honchkrow, Pyroar initiated an attack on Pikachu, firing off a Flamethrower at the electric rodent. Since he was busy dealing with Honchkrow, he did not see the Flamethrower coming until it was too late and Pyroar managed to score a direct hit on him, the force of the flame sending Pikachu flying through the air, the electric rodent giving a grunt of pain upon taking the hit. He landed on his back a few feet away and skidded along the ground before flipping and coming to his feet, scratches and burn marks marring his body and the mouse breathing heavily, but still able to continue battling. Greninja quickly came to support Pikachu, firing off a Water Shuriken before Pyroar could unleash another Flamethrower on Pikachu, the Hydro Pump scoring a direct hit on Pyroar, sending the leonine Pokémon flying through the air. Pyroar crashed into the ground and skidded for a few feet before struggling to rise. Pikachu made sure that he never did when he fired off a Thunderbolt at him, scoring another direct hit. Electricity arced across Pyroar's body and he gave a cry of pain before fainting, swirls appearing in his eyes. In a few short moments, Lysandre had been reduced to one final Pokémon. Despite this, he seemed to be unconcerned as he watched Gyarados battle Talonflame.

As for Gyarados's battle against Talonflame, the Water/Flying-type serpentine dragon began the battle by trying to hit the agile Fire/Flying-type bird with Aqua Tail, the Pokémon launching his tail forward as a wave of water surrounded it. The enclosed area made evading the attack much tougher, but Talonflame still had enough space for him to be able to take flight and sail over the Aqua Tail due to his relatively small size compared to larger Pokémon like Goodra.

"Talonflame, use Brave Bird!" Ash commanded.

Talonflame obeyed and rushed towards Gyarados, a blue flame surrounding the Pokémon. Talonflame collided with Gyarados and inflicted moderate damage, causing the serpentine Pokémon to recoil from the hit. Still, Gyarados was far from finished.

"Gyarados, use Aqua Tail one more time," Lysandre commanded in a calm voice.

Gyarados did as its master commanded and swung its tail towards Talonflame once more, waves of water surrounding it as it attempted to slam its tail into Talonflame. Talonflame, however, remained aloft and stayed out of reach of Gyarados, for while Gyarados could float if need be, it was still not very maneuverable in the air, while Talonflame was.

"Use Flamethrower!" Ash called. He knew that Gyarados was resistant to Fire-type attacks, but he wanted to avoid engaging Gyarados at close range if at all possible.

Talonflame was all too eager to obey as he fired a stream of flame at Gyarados. Gyarados's lack of maneuverability really began to show as he took another direct hit from Talonflame and was sent reeling despite having a resistance to the attack. However, Gyarados was far from finished and glared at Talonflame again. Still, Lysandre had seen enough. He was scowling as he realized that Ash was smarter than he had anticipated, either that or Talonflame was keeping to the air of his own initiative.

"It's time to do it Gyarados. Go beyond evolution, Mega Evolution!" Lysandre cried.

With that he touched his Mega Ring and the Key Stone resonated with the Mega Stone being worn by Gyarados. Immediately, Gyarados began to transform into a different form, causing Ash to grimace. Once Gyarados had completed its Mega Evolution, Ash focused his gaze on it. It was bulkier than it had been with the fins on its face, its barbels and crest being considerably longer. He then scanned it in his Pokédex and it came up that Mega Gyarados was now a Water/Dark-type Pokémon. Despite no longer being part Flying-type, it still floated in the air. However, Ash could not have been happier. Little did Lysandre know that instead of making Gyarados that much more dangerous, he had given Ash everything he had wanted. He looked around to see that Pikachu and Greninja had already taken care of the rest of the Team Flare Boss's Pokémon. They were now ready to support Talonflame against Mega Gyarados. It was then that Ash made up his battle plan. He then let out Hawlucha to join the fight.

"Greninja, use Double Team and then Aerial Ace. Pikachu, use Thunderbolt. Hawlucha, use High Jump Kick. Everyone take down Mega Gyarados!" Ash commanded.

Lysandre's eyes went wide as he heard Ash's commands. "Gyarados, use Earthquake to take down Pikachu and Greninja now!" He knew that having Gyarados focus only on Pikachu and Greninja was risky, but it was his best bet for winning this battle, for Pikachu had a type advantage and ranged attacks that were super effective against Gyarados, while Ash-Greninja was stronger than the usual Greninja and would be trouble later on.

Gyarados tried to comply, but it was being sorely tested as Pikachu launched a Thunderbolt on him, scoring a direct hit, causing the Pokémon to give a cry of pain and shock. This was quickly followed by Hawlucha's High Jump Kick, which was also super effective against the part Dark-type Pokémon, and struck the moment Pikachu's Thunderbolt cut off. That was followed by Greninja's Aerial Ace, which scored a direct hit on the Pokémon. Still, despite the damage inflicted by the three attacks, two of them being super effective, Mega Gyarados was still able to continue the battle and went on the offensive.

Following his master's commands, he struck the ground and proceeded to use Earthquake. Pikachu and Greninja, seeing the attack coming, jumped over the initial impact shockwaves and managed to avoid taking the initial blow, but the aftershocks from the Earthquake still hit them and inflicted significant damage to them, especially to Pikachu, who was weak against the attack. As for Greninja, he also felt the aftershocks since he had taken that super effective High Jump Kick to the face from Mienshao earlier. Even worse, though, was the fact that his Double Team's illusory copies all disappeared as well. Still, the Earthquake was not sufficient to take down the two Pokémon, and the trio was quick to make Gyarados pay.

Pikachu fired off another Thunderbolt while Hawlucha unleashed another High Jump Kick on Mega Gyarados while Greninja performed another Aerial Ace. Both the Thunderbolt and High Jump Kick scored direct hits on Mega Gyarados while Greninja attacked with Aerial Ace, slashing at the Pokémon.

Knowing that Gyarados would not survive all three hits, Lysandre commanded, "Gyarados, use Outrage! Lash out at all of them!"

Gyarados obeyed and immediately began to lash out at all three Pokémon as Greninja's attack was coming. Since Greninja was closest, Mega Gyarados targeted him, first. The serpentine Pokémon rushed the frog-like Pokémon and began biting and swiping his tail at him. Greninja was taken completely off guard by the attack and he was knocked out of his Aerial Ace and sent flying into the wall, where he crashed into it, slid down, and fell to the ground and was slow to get up.

"Greninja!" Ash cried as he rushed over to check on Greninja's condition. As he reached Greninja, though, the frog-like Pokémon struggled to rise. Still, he was able to maintain his Ash-Greninja form and held his hand out to ward off Ash, wanting to stand on his own power. Eventually, he was able to do so. Before returning to the fight, though, Ash administered a Potion to help heal him of the damage that he had sustained.

Back at the fight, Mega Gyarados was now accosting Pikachu. Gyarados bit at and swiped at Pikachu, hitting him numerous times. Its attack barrage continued until Pikachu's Static kicked in and on one fateful bite, Mega Gyarados felt electricity arcing across its body as it reflexively pulled away as it was shocked by Pikachu's Static and paralyzed. This gave Pikachu and Hawlucha the opening they needed in order to finish off Mega Gyarados. With a combination of Thunderbolt and High Jump Kick, the two Pokémon finished off Mega Gyarados as the serpentine Pokémon took the full force of both attacks, the High Jump Kick hitting it in the head, while Pikachu's Thunderbolt struck it in the center of mass. The combined power of the two attacks was too much for Mega Gyarados to take and it fell to the ground, transforming back into a normal Gyarados, swirls now appearing in its eyes, signaling that the battle had ended.

Lysandre looked on and grimaced. After his three other Pokémon had fallen, he had doubted that Mega Gyarados would have been sufficient to deal with Ash's Pokémon team, but he had expected to inflict more damage than this. He eventually looked Ash straight in the eye.

"I must say I'm impressed. I did not expect the battle to end like this."

"I won the battle, Lysandre. Now do as you promised and release Serena and shut down the Ultimate Weapon," Ash ordered, glaring at the Team Flare Boss.

Lysandre used the mechanical arm to raise up Serena and then let her down. Ash rushed over to her and grabbed her in order to lower her to the ground gently. Once he did that, he looked up at Lysandre and ordered, "Now, shut down the weapon."

Lysandre then went over to the weapon and input a series of commands with both his natural hands as well as the machine. Soon, the energy that was flowing through the conduit stopped and the conduit seemed to go dark, indicating that the weapon was shut down. However, Lysandre still had a smirk on his face. He then turned back to Ash. "All these heroics and you still don't realize that it's not over," he said, shaking his head.

Ash then stared at Lysandre, not understanding what he meant. Soon, he saw Lysandre looking back at the two Legendary Pokémon strapped to the machine behind him. The Team Flare Boss soon used the mechanical arms on his backpack to undo the restraints on the two Legendaries. "You may have defeated my Pokémon team, but you have yet to defeat Xerneas and Yveltal." The two Pokémon then took a few menacing steps towards the boy and his Pokémon, the two towering over them. "Xerneas, Yveltal, destroy them!"

The Pokémon then nodded and approached Ash and his Pokémon. He then looked over at Greninja and told him, "You get Serena to safety. Then come back and join the fight. We'll be needing you now more than ever."

Greninja nodded and went over to Serena and gathered the sleeping girl into his arms. He then took her to a far corner of the room where there was a small sleeping pallet. It was clearly designed for a child, rather than a teenager, but it was all that was available at the moment. Sceptile then gently placed Serena on the pallet and then returned to Ash.

While Greninja was getting Serena out of the danger zone, Lysandre and the Legendaries simply waited for him to return. Greninja soon returned and Ash almost scowled at the Team Flare Boss. "Then let's get this battle underway," Lysandre said calmly. He then pointed at Ash and his team and cried, "Xerneas, Yveltal, go! Hold nothing back! Destroy that boy and his Pokémon! Our plans cannot be stopped! Nothing and no one may stand in our way!" he cried.

The Pokémon nodded and then rushed towards Ash's Pokémon team. "Guys, hold nothing back. Greninja, you, Goodra, and Pikachu take on Yveltal. Use Ice Beam and Thunderbolt on it. Do everything you can to take it down. Everyone else, take on Xerneas."

Despite seeing the team arrayed against his Legendary Pokémon, Lysandre's expression did not change. He still had confidence in Xerneas and Yveltal's ability to defeat Ash's team, especially since their victory over his team, particularly for Greninja, had not been without cost. Still, he would have the two Legendaries focus on Ash-Greninja first. The others could wait.

"Xerneas, use Geomancy now. Yveltal, use Dark Pulse on Goodra. Take it down now!"

"Greninja dodge and use Ice Beam on Xerneas," Ash commanded. He did not like having to divert Greninja from attacking Yveltal to fight off Xerneas, especially using a non STAB attack on Xerneas but he felt as if he had little choice right now, especially since Xerneas was part Fairy-type and he needed to do as much damage to that Pokémon as quickly as possible, with the hope that Ice Beam would freeze it since it could devastate his team. "The rest of you stick to the plan. Yveltal is vulnerable to Electric and Ice-type attacks so take advantage of it."

Ash-Greninja nodded and jumped high into the air, allowing Yveltal's Dark Pulse to pass underneath him and continue to the wall, which it then blasted through as if it had been made of tissue paper, a five meter wide hole now allowing light from other portions of the base into the basement level. While Yveltal had attacked Ash-Greninja, Xerneas used Geomancy to power itself up. However, the move took time to use and it had just begun to use it as Ash-Greninja unleashed a freezing stream of Ice Beam on Xerneas, allowing Pikachu and Goodra to deal with Yveltal. The Ice Beam scored a direct hit on Xerneas and forced it backwards as circles of energy appeared on the ground and lights erupted from it. The lights then illuminated Xerneas and its Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed greatly increased. Unfortunately for Greninja, though, the Ice Beam did not freeze the Legendary Pokémon, allowing it to continue the battle.

"Now, attack Greninja with Moonblast!" Lysandre commanded.

While Xerneas had been powering up, Pikachu and Goodra had been battling Yveltal. They had opened up on the Dark/Flying-type Pokémon with a Thunderbolt and Ice Beam respectively. Both attacks scored direct hits on Yveltal and sent it flying backwards, electricity arcing across its body and sheets of ice forming on its chest. Ash was surprised that those attacks had inflicted as much damage as they had. He then turned his attention towards Xerneas and saw the deer-like Fairy-type Pokémon readying a Moonblast to target Greninja.

"Greninja, use Double Team quick!" Ash cried.

Greninja obeyed and over a dozen illusory copies of the frog-like Pokémon soon appeared. "Good, now use Water Shuriken on Xerneas! We need to use our strongest attacks against it," he commanded. He then turned his attention back on Goodra and Pikachu, both of who were engaging Yveltal. "Goodra, Pikachu, don't let up on Yveltal, use Thunderbolt and Ice Beam again!"

Greninja was quick to comply and he unleashed a barrage of Water Shuriken on Xerneas, the assault forcing it backwards once more. Still, despite taking an Ice Beam and a volley of Water Shuriken from a specially evolved Greninja, Xerneas was far from being out of the fight and was still more than able to battle. It rose and focused its attention on Ash-Greninja, almost grinning in the process. As for Lysandre, he gave a satisfied grin as he saw Xerneas stand up to Ash-Greninja, for he knew that Water Shuriken was not nearly as powerful a technique as Hydro Pump or even Surf. It would not be long before this battle was over, for Ash-Greninja lacked the offensive power to defeat Xerneas.

Back at Pikachu, Goodra, and Yveltal, Ash's Pokémon obeyed his command and proceeded to unleash another barrage of Thunderbolt and Ice Beam on Yveltal. Yveltal took another volley of attacks, before counterattacking with Dark Pulse: its target, Pikachu. Yveltal's Dark Pulse scored a direct hit on Pikachu, sending the Electric-type Pokémon flying through the air and crashing into the wall on the far side of the room.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried as he rushed over to check on the condition of his best friend.

When he arrived, he saw that Pikachu was struggling to rise but was unable to do so. Still, Pikachu refused to faint. "Don't do it, Pikachu," Ash counseled his best friend. "Stay there and get some rest. If we fail, you may be the only hope for the world. Don't worry," Ash assured him. "We'll finish the fight."

As Pikachu laid himself on the ground to rest, as well as try to find an opportunity to short out and/or destroy the Ultimate Weapon, Ash returned to assist Greninja, Goodra, and the rest of his team to victory over Xerneas and Yveltal to make sure that Pikachu's defeat was not in vain. He looked over at Yveltal and saw electricity arcing across Yveltal's body. He grinned. Pikachu's last Thunderbolt must have paralyzed it.

"Now, Goodra, use Ice Beam on Yveltal! Finish it off quickly!" he cried. "The rest of you, help Greninja take on Xerneas!"

Goodra wasted no time firing an Ice Beam at Yveltal. Yveltal attempted to use Oblivion Wing to stop Goodra's Ice Beam but its paralysis prevent prevented the Legendary Pokémon from being able to mount an effective defense. It then took the hit and a sheet of ice formed in front of it as it grimaced in pain. Goodra, seeing that Yveltal was paralyzed, continued to fire more Ice Beams at it, scoring direct hits each and every time. Despite Yveltal's best efforts, its paralysis kept it from moving and being able to defend itself against Goodra's assault. Soon, Goodra let off one final Ice Beam that proved to be the decider of the match. Given the damage that it had taken earlier, the final Ice Beam was simply too much for Yveltal to take. The beam struck the Legendary Pokémon squarely in the chest and a sheet of ice began to form over its chest. The Pokémon gave one last cry as it then fell the floor, crashing into it and denting it as it landed. A cloud of dust was thrown up from its point of impact and the Pokémon remained there, motionless, the swirls in its eyes showing that it was unconscious.

Lysandre grimaced at the sight and then looked back at Xerneas and how it was handing the remainder of Ash's team. Apparently, it was having problems of its own dealing with Ash's Pokémon. Xerneas fired a Moonblast on Greninja, but the agile Pokémon managed to partially evade the attack and sustain only a glancing hit. The attack still did significant damage to Greninja, though, but not nearly as much as a direct hit would have. However, the hit did disperse all of the illusory copies so Xerneas now only had one Greninja to target. Help would soon come for Greninja, though.

Talonflame soon entered the fray and fired off a Flamethrower at Xerneas, scoring a direct hit on the Fairy-type Pokémon, forcing it to skid back several feet before it planted its feet into the floor to arrest its momentum. Still, Lysandre could see the writing on the wall. Even with a type advantage over Hawlucha, Ash-Greninja, Noivern, and Goodra, Xerneas's Fairy-type moves were weak against Talonflame, and the bird-like Pokémon had the advantage in mobility, even in the relatively confined space of this basement level. He then scanned the rest of the area and saw that with Yveltal down, Goodra and the others were coming to assist Ash-Greninja and Talonflame in fighting Xerneas. The Team Flare Boss grinned. He had a chance to significantly weaken Ash's forces.

"Xerneas, use Moonblast take out Greninja now!" Lysandre commanded.

"Greninja, use Water Shuriken quick!" Ash commanded in counterpoint.

Xerneas then fired a Moonblast at Greninja just as the frog-like Pokémon had fired a Water Shuriken at him. The two attacks collided in midair and exploded, a cloud of smoke obscuring the area for a second before the Moonblast blazed through the smoke cloud and scored a direct hit on Greninja. The frog-like Pokémon was sent flying through the air for several meters before hitting the ground, skidding along it, before coming to a stop, the swirls in his eyes, along with his reversion back to his normal form, showing that he had fainted. Xerneas then shifted its focus towards Noivern and Hawlucha.

Ash grimaced as he looked over at Noivern and Hawlucha, seeing that they were now Xerneas's targets. He considered returning them to their Poké Balls, but he quickly realized that that would merely set up Goodra and Talonflame to fail. With his numbers, plus the damage Xerneas had already taken, he figured that even Xerneas could be beaten, especially considering the relative ease with which Yveltal had fallen. "Noivern, use Hurricane. Hawlucha, hang back. I don't want you headed into that fight just yet, Goodra, use Ice Beam on Xerneas!" Ash commanded.

The Pokémon complied, despite the fact that Ash had his misgivings. Noivern took to the air and proceeded to unleash a massive Hurricane on Xerneas, winds lashing out at the Fairy-type Legendary Pokémon. Xerneas grunted as it took the full brunt of the attack and suffered heavy damage from it. Still, the Hurricane was not sufficient to keep it from retaliating with Moonblast. The pink Moonblast lashed out at Noivern and took down the Flying/Dragon-type Pokémon with one hit.

That opened up the Pokémon to attack from Hawlucha as he went in to perform a High Jump Kick, hoping to surprise Xerneas by attacking without verbal authorization, though Ash had subtly nodded towards him as Xerneas was focused on Noivern. Unfortunately, though, Xerneas managed to intercept Hawlucha and fired a Moonblast at him when he was at point blank range. The blast collided with Hawlucha and sent the Fighting/Flying-type Pokémon flying through the air and crashing into the wall, where he left some cracks and an indent before sliding down it, swirls appearing in his eyes, showing that he had fainted.

Next came Goodra, who fired off an Ice Beam on Xerneas. Despite the attack being a type neutral attack, he must have hit a weak spot of some sort, for the attack inflicted significant damage to the Legendary Pokémon. Still, it was not enough to take down Xerneas, who turned and then powered up a Moonblast, readying itself to take down Goodra.

"Goodra, watch out!" Ash cried, seeing that Goodra was about to take a super effective attack from a Legendary Pokémon that had powered up its special attacks.

However, just before Xerneas fired on Goodra, Talonflame rushed in without orders and knocked Goodra out of the way of the blast the very moment that Xerneas fired the attack. Talonflame had also managed to avoid taking a direct hit from the Moonblast, but the blast had still struck a wing, causing Talonflame to fall out of the sky and crash into the ground. Burn marks now marred his left wing and several feathers had actually been burned off of his wing. However, the Pokémon was still able to fight.

"Goodra, return!" Ash cried, calling back the Dragon-type Pokémon. He wanted to save Goodra for any later surprises that Lysandre may have had in store for them since he knew that Goodra had no chance against the Fairy-type Legendary. He then looked back over at Talonflame and nodded. "It's all up to you!" he called confidently. He could see Xerneas sweating and breathing heavily, burns, scratches, and dirt marks covering the Legendary Pokémon's body. It was not going to last much longer. Talonflame should be enough to beat it.

Looking at the battlefield, it was only Talonflame and Xerneas. However, it was clear that the battle had taken its toll on Xerneas, and Talonflame was in better condition despite his injured wing. However, that did not stop Xerneas from firing off another Moonblast at Talonflame. This one found its mark and inflicted moderate to heavy damage to Talonflame, an explosion engulfing Talonflame in smoke, causing Ash to look on worriedly. Despite having a resistance to the Fairy-type attack, he _was_ still taking an attack from a Legendary Pokémon that had powered itself up with Geomancy. When the smoke cleared, Talonflame could be seen, breathing heavily but still able to battle. The attack had not been enough to take down the bird-like Pokémon. Still, it was clear that Talonflame was on his last legs. If he did not end this battle quickly, Xerneas would.

Talonflame then returned fire with Flamethrower, which scored a direct hit on Xerneas. The revenge Flamethrower proved to be the decider of the match, for Xerneas was sent skidding across the floor with the final Flamethrower. The reindeer-like Pokémon attempted to use its sword-like legs to stab into the floor to stabilize itself but it was unable to do so and it fell to its side, where it skidded a few more feet before eventually coming to rest a few meters away from where it had been standing. After it had skidded, it remained still, the swirls in its eyes showing that it, too, had fainted. Lysandre maintained his even expression. "It seems as if the energy drain affected their abilities more than I had anticipated," he muttered nonchalantly. He then looked over at Ash and saw the boy glaring at him.

"It's over Lysandre. We won!" Ash declared. "Now, shut down that weapon."

"Not yet," Lysandre answered in a dark tone.

Ash wondered what he meant that when he saw Lysandre glance behind him. Soon, a slim green and black dog-like Pokémon emerged from the shadows. Ash's eyes went wide as he immediately recognized the Pokémon as being Zygarde in its ten percent form. The dog stepped forward and took one look at Ash's two remaining Pokémon as he administered a Full Restore to both of them, with him using a Max Revive to revive Greninja, the Water/Dark-type Pokémon quickly bond evolving once more into Ash-Greninja. The moment Zygarde saw Ash heal his Pokémon, the Pokémon closed its eyes and soon, green blobs appeared from behind the machine and flowed towards it. As the cells merged with Zygarde, its form changed, the Pokémon transforming from a dog-like Pokémon to a serpent-like Pokémon that seemed to be shaped similarly to a Z with tall black frills on its head. Lysandre could only grin. Ash, meanwhile, grimaced and let Goodra back out of his Poké Ball. He would need his entire team for this battle.

"I think that fifty percent should do it," Lysandre commented, studying Ash's remaining conscious Pokémon. Looking back at Zygarde, he ordered, "Finish them off. I don't care how you do it, just do it."

The serpent gave a slight incline of its head as it then focused on Ash and his two remaining Pokémon. It zeroed in on Ash-Greninja and proceeded to unleash a Dragon Pulse towards him. The agile bond evolved Ash-Greninja managed to avoid the Dragon Pulse as Ash commanded, "Use Ice Beam on Zygarde." He then looked over at Talonflame and commanded, "Talonflame, use Brave Bird on Zygarde. We have to take it down quickly before it can get to one hundred percent!" Ash remembered from his previous adventures, as well as from legends, that while fifty percent Zygarde was strong, it was not insurmountable. At one hundred percent, though, it was stronger than both Xerneas and Yveltal. At fifty percent, he still had a shot, especially if the Ultimate Weapon had siphoned off a good deal of energy from it.

The two Pokémon did as Ash commanded and Greninja let off an Ice Beam, which scored a direct hit on Zygarde, forcing it back a few feet, inflicting significant damage to the Pokémon. Talonflame the spread his wing and was soon engulfed in a blue flame as he rushed towards Zygarde, scoring another direct hit on the Dragon/Ground-type Legendary Pokémon. The Legendary Pokémon recoiled from the hit, but it was still able to launch its counterattack as it used Stone Edge, causing a series of jagged stones to erupt from the ground and lash out at Talonflame. Talonflame went evasive as Zygarde tried to summon more stones from the ground to lash out at the bird-like Pokémon, hoping to score a hit.

While Talonflame was keeping Zygarde busy, Ash looked over at Goodra and cried, "Goodra, use Ice Beam on Zygarde!"

Goodra did as commanded and unleashed a jagged Ice Beam on the Dragon/Ground-type Legendary, inflicting significant damage on Zygarde with the super effective attack. Zygarde recoiled from the hit but it was far from beaten, with Goodra not being all that evasive, and it knew exactly what to do. Zygarde powered up a Dragon Pulse and fired it right at Goodra. The pulse scored a direct hit on the Dragon-type Pokémon and sent him flying backwards, and crashing into the wall, where he created an indent and slid down. Miraculously, though, he was not killed, or even severely injured. In fact, he was still able to fight, something that shocked Ash and Zygarde to no end. He then readied another Ice Beam, but Zygarde would have none of that as it fired another Dragon Pulse at him before he could fire on the Legendary.

Goodra dodged the Dragon Pulse, with Zygarde taking a hit from another Brave Bird from Talonflame. Zygarde recoiled from the attack, prompting Lysandre to frown. He noticed that Zygarde was doing nothing to evade the attacks, almost as if its goal was to try to match power on power despite it only being at fifty percent.

"Enough of this, Zygarde, transform into your complete form," Lysandre commanded.

That was when Zygarde did something that Lysandre had not expected. It ignored his command and continued to fight at fifty percent. As it did so, it took another Ice Beam to the face, Ash-Greninja scoring a critical hit on it as it was shoved back a few meters. Still, Zygarde stood its ground and lashed out at Greninja using Outrage, a red glow surrounding its body as it attacked. Zygarde whipped its tail and head as well as biting Ash-Greninja as Greninja fired another Ice Beam, scoring a direct hit and inflicting even more damage onto Zygarde. However, Zygarde's attack was taking its toll and with one last bite, Zygarde's fangs pierced Ash-Greninja's skin. Greninja gave a loud cry as it fell to its knees and reverted to normal before falling to the ground, blood leaking from its wounds as it was doing its best to stop the bleeding.

"Greninja!" Ash cried in horror as he saw Greninja fall to the Outrage, Ash feeling the pain that his Pokémon was experiencing and doing everything he could to not faint.

Talonflame witnessed the exchange and quickly rendered aid to Greninja, using Flamethrower to cauterize the wounds so that Greninja would not bleed out. Still, Greninja was in no condition to battle, leaving it a battle between Zygarde and Talonflame and Goodra, Zygarde still trapped in the throes of Outrage, lashing out and biting uncontrollably. Talonflame went for broke and rocketed straight towards Zygarde, a blue flame surrounding his body as he used Brave Bird once more, hoping that this would be sufficient to take down fifty percent Zygarde. The bird Pokémon collided with Zygarde and inflicted tremendous damage onto the Pokémon, Talonflame also feeling the recoil from the hit, blue sparks crackling around his body. Still, the hit was insufficient to take down Zygarde. However, Zygarde was now released from Outrage, but now suffered from a new condition as it attacked Talonflame, hurling itself straight at the stricken Pokémon. Zygarde was now confused, a side effect from using Outrage, which was a reason why many Trainers were hesitant to have their Pokémon learn the move.

Goodra launched another Ice Beam on Zygarde, only to miss as Zygarde rushed it and collided with it, scoring a direct hit on it and knocking it out. It then lashed out at anything and everything around it once more, even smashing its head into the ground before taking another Brave Bird from Talonflame. That caused the stricken Pokémon to focus on Talonflame and lash out at it with all its strength.

Zygarde scored a direct hit on Talonflame, but its momentum carried both it and Talonflame towards a computer console off into the distance. The Pokémon collided with the console, instantly shattering it and causing it to spark and explode in their faces. The explosion, while not fatal to either Pokémon, was sufficient to take both Pokémon out of the fight as swirls appeared in both of their eyes, a clear sign that both of them had fainted.

Lysandre looked at the battle's outcome in curiosity. "Well well, it's a draw," he commented nonchalantly, almost as if this was not so surprising at all.

Ash looked at the scene quizzically before realizing that Talonflame needed help. He then cried, "Talonflame," and ran over to the fainted bird Pokémon, which had done more in this series of battles than many of Ash's other Pokémon had done during their entire journeys with him.

When he arrived, he saw that Talonflame was beaten up, scratches and bruises marring his body, but the Pokémon was alive and in no danger of dying from his injuries. He gave a sigh of relief as he went to help Talonflame into his Poké Ball before turning towards Lysandre.

"It's over Lysandre," Ash proclaimed. "Your Pokémon are beaten!"

"As are yours," Lysandre added, looking at the floor, which was littered with the defeated forms of the two Trainers' Pokémon.

"I've still got my friends," Ash countered.

"But Clemont and the others aren't here yet," Lysandre said in counterpoint to Ash's own.

"But _I_ can still fight," Ash continued, as he produced a Revive and went over to his closest Pokémon, Hawlucha, and gave him the Revive. Hawlucha immediately rose from ground and stared at Lysandre, scowling, realizing that the Team Flare Boss had no Pokémon at his side. Despite the draw in the Pokémon Battle, Ash was the real winner since he could revive his own team whereas it appeared as if Lysandre had not brought along any healing items for his own Pokémon.

"Now it's over, Lysandre," Ash declared. "Now shut down the Ultimate Weapon!"

"Very well," the Team Flare Boss shrugged. He then input a series of commands on the machine, both by hand as well as by the mechanical arms he was wearing. After a few moments, he told Ash, "It's done. The weapon's charging has ceased."

Ash saw the conduit's glow begin to die as the weapon seemed to power down. He could not help but notice that Lysandre had chosen his words very carefully. He rushed over to Serena to check on her. Fortunately, the fighting had not reached her and she was regaining consciousness as he reached her. She rose and looked at him as he smiled at her. "We did it, Serena," he told her, his face bursting with glee. "We won."

That was when tears began to form in her eyes. He did not know why she seemed to be on the verge of crying until she shook her head. "No, we didn't," she told him, barely able to keep from sobbing.

"What do you mean?" Ash blurted in response, not understanding why she seemed to think that not only had they not won, but that they had already lost.

"Isn't it obvious?" Lysandre answered. "Did you really think you could stop me? That I would entertain you in a battle if I thought that there was the slightest chance that you could stop me? Did you not wonder why I let Greninja take Serena away from the battlefield and not engage your other Pokémon with your strongest not being part of the fight? Even without the Ultimate Weapon, my Mortality Trees will destroy all sentient life on Earth," Lysandre explained. "And that is if the weapon _doesn't_ fire, which it will, for while you, your friends, and Serena were fighting me, I was draining the energy from Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde. Don't you find it odd that you were able to beat two Legendary Pokémon like Xerneas and Yveltal despite the fact that most of your team was highly vulnerable to Xerneas? Did you notice how easily both Xerneas and Yveltal went down even though most of your team was defeated in the process? Didn't you think it odd that I did not react when Zygarde disobeyed me and did not transform into its complete form? It doesn't matter that I lost the battle. It doesn't matter that I stopped the weapon's charging. The weapon will fire when I push this button."

Lysandre stood near a console and lowered his index finger towards a large red button. Ash and Serena rushed towards the Team Flare Boss, crying, "No!"

Just as Lysandre pushed the button, a lightning bolt lashed out towards him. His machine, however, generated a force field that deflected the bolt of lightning away from him. When Ash saw the bolt of lightning flash past him, he turned around and saw Pikachu struggling to stand and breathing heavily, his cheeks still crackling with electricity, though. There was still some fight left in him.

"The console!" Serena cried. "If we take out the console, we may interrupt the firing process!"

Pikachu did not need to be told twice as he redirected his aim and fired another Thunderbolt, this time at the console just as Lysandre pushed the firing button. The moment he did so, Pikachu's Thunderbolt struck the console. Electricity arced across it, as well as across Lysandre's body, for the electricity traveled from the metallic console, to his body, as well as around his mechanical arms and pack. He gave a cry as he was electrocuted and he fell to the ground, his body smoking and his hair standing on end. As he fell, the machine shut down, all of its circuits having been completely fried by Pikachu's lightning. Lysandre stared into the sky, his eyes wide open, but his chest slowly rose and fell, indicating that he was still alive.

Ash and Serena looked on and saw that while the lights on the console went out, energy began to flow once more through the conduit. "Heh, heh, heh," came the faint laughter of Lysandre, who was lying on the ground, seemingly attempting to move. "So now it ends."

The base suddenly began to shake. "What's goin' on?" Ash demanded.

A few strained laughs emerged from Lysandre's mouth as the Team Flare Boss struggled to rise. "The weapon is about to fire," the dying Team Flare Boss answered. "The energy is traveling up the weapon and is being focused. Once enough energy has built up at the focal point, it will be projected into space and then come crashing back down to Earth and explode, using Xerneas's supposed life-giving energy to sustain Yveltal's life-draining energy and wipe out all sentient life on this world. All of it being supported and stabilized by Zygarde's energy. The energy is already… building up from the core. The world will soon return back into its beautiful, pristine state."

His mechanical arm then began to move as he attempted to steady himself. Despite his difficulty in not stumbling, his arm had no problem reaching the button.

Serena stood by Ash and watched in horror. All during his explanation of what the weapon was going to do, she could only think about what she could have been. He had told her everything about what she would have become had Team Flare not interfered with her. She would have been the Kalos League Champion and the one who would have stopped Team Flare, and also caused the death of Lysandre when the weapon's pulse merely fell back onto it and destroyed it after Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde had drained the energy from the weapon. Drained the energy from the weapon? That was it! Her eyes flashed with realization.

"Ash, get Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde and bring them to me," she told him.

"Serena, what are you doing?" he asked.

"There isn't time to explain, just do it," she ordered.

Wasting no time, Serena rushed towards Lysandre, lowering her shoulder in the process. She had noticed that both of the Legendary Pokémon had been standing close to the conduits during her battle against Lysandre, as well as during Ash's battle with him. Chances were that they had been feeding the weapon with the necessary energy to allow it to destroy all life in the world. However, if she could redirect the energy back into the Pokémon, they could absorb the energy before it fired.

She collided with Lysandre, hitting him as hard as she could. Despite only being a child, she was able to push him closer and closer to the conduit. However, despite all of her efforts, she was still a child fighting and adult, a point that Lysandre was quick to show her. He then grabbed Serena by the throat and slammed her into the conduit wall.

"Did you really think that you could stop me?" he asked, grinning. "What did you possibly hope to accomplish?"

"This," Serena answered as she saw his machine and pushed a button on its side.

The moment she did so, one of the mechanical arms, one that had a sharp blade at its end, thrust forward, Serena moving her head, allowing the blade to miss her by inches. The blade pierced the side of the conduit, which was more fragile than she had initially believed, and energy began to course down the arm and onto Lysandre's body.

Meanwhile, Ash had gone over to Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde and attempted to bring them over to Serena. He was forced to enlist the help of Greninja and Hawlucha as the two of them pushed the very large Legendary Pokémon towards Lysandre and Serena, who were against the conduit wall. As they pushed the large Pokémon, towards Serena and the Team Flare Boss. He then saw Lysandre's metallic arm pierce the conduit wall and he realized what her plan had been. All he had to do was get the Pokémon, who were beginning to stir, over to the Team Flare Boss.

As the Team Flare Boss was writhing in shock over the life-giving and life-taking energies arcing across his body, Ash noticed three Master Balls fall from his belt. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt to destroy the Master Balls now!" he commanded.

Pikachu immediately unleashed a massive volley of Thunderbolts towards the three Master Balls. The bolts of lightning striking them and shattering them to pieces. The moment the Master Balls were destroyed, a strange look came over the faces of the three Legendary Pokémon and they looked at Ash, all of them recognizing him from earlier adventures.

"You," Xerneas said, surprised to see the young boy close to it.

"Where's Bonnie?" he heard Zygarde ask.

"Xerneas, Yveltal, Zygarde, the fate of the world is at stake."

"We know," Yveltal answered telepathically, something that surprised Ash.

He then pointed to Serena and Lysandre, who were still struggling near the conduit. He saw one of Lysandre's mechanical arms thrust towards Serena, who attempted to stop it. It managed to bite indirectly into the lower right portion of her abdomen, all of this happening as energy was arcing over both herself and Lysandre. Ash quickly administered a Revive to them so that they would be able to act as necessary. When they saw the two humans struggling, they rushed over to Serena to try and draw as much energy out of the weapon as possible. However, as they were draining the energy, the room began to shake as if an earthquake had begun. The three weakened but still able Legendary Pokémon continued to drain energy from the conduit until the group heard a loud bang from outside, causing the shaking to become sharper before stopping. Ash and Serena had to steady themselves. Lysandre could only give one last laugh as he fell to the ground. "It is finished. The weapon has fired. The three Legendary Pokémon may have drawn enough energy away from the weapon to prevent the world from dying, but I've still got the Mortality Trees to finish it off. And there _is_ enough energy to destroy Kalos, and possibly all of France in the process. You have lost."

Just outside the base, Clemont, Meyer, and Professor Sycamore were fighting the last few members of Team Flare, as well as the mercenaries that they had hired to assist them, with Mega Blaziken incinerating two of the mercenaries, taking down their Diggersbys and Salamences in the process. Ampharos then proceeded to fry the remaining Talonflames and Golbats as well. Mega Garchomp picked on the leftover Litleos and Scraftys that were foolish enough to come against them. As for Clemont's Pokémon, they merely watched and made certain that nothing got past them. After a few short moments, the fight was over and the trio stood victorious, examining the fallen Flares and any mercenaries that had been helping them.

They did not have long to relish their victory, though, for they quickly felt the ground shake and they could hear rumbling coming from the center of Geosenge Town. They turned and saw the points of the Ultimate Weapon glowing, with energy building up at each point, congealing into balls of what looked to be either lightning or plasma.

"The weapon!" Meyer cried over the din. "We've gotta destroy it now!"

"But what will happen if we do?" Professor Sycamore asked.

"I don't know," Meyer admitted. "But it's better than doing nothing."

"He's right," Clemont agreed. "We may be the only ones left standing right now. We've gotta keep that weapon from firing, no matter the cost!"

The others nodded and then proceeded to set up their plan. "Mega Blaziken and Ampharos will take one of the focal points on that thing and attempt to destroy it using their strongest attacks," Meyer stated.

"I'll take Mega Garchomp to another of the focal point of the weapon and destroy it," Sycamore echoed.

"And we'll take another one," Clemont stated.

With that, the group broke off and began attacking the focal points of the Ultimate Weapon. Mega Blaziken and Mega Ampharos unleashed a Fire Blast and Thunder attack on their focal point, the flame and lightning striking it and inflicting damage on it as it glowed. Electricity also arced across the surface of the point and traveled down the weapon, shorting out the point.

Meanwhile, Mega Garchomp targeted a second focal point of the weapon and unleashed a Draco Meteor on it. The ball of energy was launched into the sky and then it split apart and rained energy balls down on the focal point of the Ultimate Weapon. Each ball continued to assault the same point and eventually, it managed to breach the point of the weapon and break it off. The ball of energy formed on the edge immediately dispersed and exploded into a shower of sparks that vanished into thin air. Two main points were down, leaving only one left.

As for the final of the larger focal points, Clemont had his Electric-type Pokémon fire off a barrage of Thunderbolts on the point, with Meyer's Blaziken using Fire Blast and Chesnaught using Energy Ball to hopefully inflict more damage. The lightning bolts from Heliolisk and Luxray struck the point and electricity arced across the weapon. The electricity was sufficient to disable the focal point and the energy that was forming on the tip of the point vanished.

The trio breathed a sigh of relief as it looked like the weapon was disabled, but their relief was short-lived as they saw the smaller focal points begin to glow. Soon, balls of energy formed on them and they cried, "Everyone, attack those points now!"

Their Pokémon obeyed and unleashed their most powerful attacks on the weapon's points, but it was not enough. Soon, beams of energy erupted from the points, combining into one ball of energy above the weapon. The ball of energy was smaller than it would have been if the larger points could have added their own energy to it, but it was sufficient for the pulse that was being formed to be projected into space. The weapon then projected the ball upwards and Clemont and the others could only look on in horror and despair as the ball rocketed into space.

"That's it," Professor Sycamore sighed. "Our mission is a complete failure." All they could do now was say their final prayers and await the inevitable.

Back inside the base, Lysandre gave one last satisfied gasp as he fell to the ground, releasing Serena, who fell to the ground but was able to slowly crawl towards Ash. He looked at her and saw that she had a wound in the lower right portion of her abdomen. It did not look particularly bad, but he knew that it was worse than she was letting on, for the energy that had washed over Lysandre, had also washed over her, and into her wound. If more of the life-draining energy of Yveltal had seeped into the wound, even a scratch could become fatal.

Xerneas Yveltal, and Zygarde soon came over to Ash and the injured Serena as Lysandre lay on the ground, laughing. "It's finished. Kalos is doomed. All of this could have been prevented had Serena followed her destiny, rather than the dream _we_ created for her."

"Shut up!" Xerneas cried in an uncharacteristically angry tone, but it did not attack Lysandre and finish him off. It merely looked over at Ash, along with Yveltal and Zygarde, and told him, "Come to us, and bring her, too."

He did so, and helped Serena over to them. "What are you gonna do?" the boy asked.

"Shield you from that blast," Yveltal answered. "Xerneas's sleeping form is that of a tree that can give life. Mine, however, is that of a cocoon. I can use that cocoon to shield you from the blast of energy while Xerneas can give me energy to keep me alive so my cocoon will keep protecting you until the blast wave has passed."

Ash and Serena soon arrived at Xerneas and Yveltal. When they reached the Pokémon, they could feel the ground begin to shake once more. "The pulse is descending," Xerneas said ominously.

"There's not enough time," Yveltal stated just as ominously.

"Then I'll help buy some time," the serpentine Zygarde answered.

It then slithered off into the distance, far enough away that Yveltal's cocoon would not accidently encase it as well, for it needed to be outside in order to buy them the necessary time to hopefully save Ash and Serena. As soon as it was far enough away, it closed its eyes and began to call all of its cells, and even its second Zygarde Core to it. Green blobs soon appeared from the ground and merged with the serpentine Pokémon, the Pokémon soon a new form. No longer was the Pokémon a serpentine Pokémon. Now, it was a bipedal Pokémon with two arms with two massive black gauntlet-like structures on them that were longer than the arms, themselves. It then looked into the sky at the descending energy ball and powered its own attack, something that Ash did not recognize. As Ash turned away, Complete Forme Zygarde fired its energy blast at the descending ball of energy, hoping to either stop it outright and deflect it into space, or at least slow it down so Xerneas and Yveltal could save Ash and Serena.

Once Ash and Serena had reached them, Yveltal spread its wings and enveloped the two humans. As it was enveloping them, they watched as Zygarde did its best to perform a miracle and somehow stop the descending ball of energy. Its own energy blast collided with the Ultimate Weapon's energy ball and the two attacks met about five hundred meters into the air, the ball of energy stopping its descent for a moment before it started to descend again, albeit much more slowly this time around.

"Hurry up," Zygarde called to the other two Legendary Pokémon. "I can't hold this thing back for long!"

In the midst of the cacophony, Ash could hear Lysandre half laughing, half wheezing in the corner. Ash could see Serena's scratch and how she seemed to be getting more and more debilitated from it.

"She's not going to survive, even if Zygarde can somehow deflect the Ultimate Weapon's energy ball," Lysandre told Ash. "Yveltal's life-draining energy entered into her from the wound. The only mercy she may have is that she may die with Kalos before the Oblivion Wing energy turns her to stone and kills her."

As Yveltal spread its wings and used them to envelope the teens, it began to transform into a dark-colored cocoon. Ash laid Serena on the ground and looked affectionately into her eyes, trying to hold back tears, fearing the worst. Serena could still see the sadness on his face, as well as feel her own internal systems failing.

"Be honest Ash. I'm not gonna make it, am I?"

Ash did not know how to answer her. He wanted to tell her that everything was going to be okay, but he knew that that would be a lie. Tears leaked out of his eyes as he slowly shook his head. "I can't see how," he eventually answered, unable to hold back his tears. Soon, Serena began to cry as well.

"I'm sorry, Ash," she sobbed. "I'm sorry I'm causing you so much pain right now. If only I had stayed in the Vaniville Sky Trainer Academy. If only I had become a Trainer rather than a Pokémon Performer. Maybe this would…"

But before she could finish, Ash silenced her by covering her mouth with his own. He was not going to let her final moments be full of regrets. They kissed for several seconds before Ash gently withdrew and whispered, "Serena, I love you."

The moment he uttered those words, the cocoon had finally formed around them. Ash then embraced Serena and kissed her once more. As they kissed, the ground shook as if it had just been struck by a moon-sized hammer. Then there was a thunderous roar for a few seconds and then, everything went silent, and dark.

Outside Team Flare's Secret Headquarters, Clemont, Meyer, and Professor Sycamore had watched as the blast of energy descended from the sky back down onto the base. The pulse annihilated the base as it struck and the trio and their Pokémon could scarcely comprehend that the base had been destroyed before the energy spreading out from the blast hit them and annihilated them entirely. In less than an instant, nothing remained inside of Geosenge Town, the cataclysmic wave of energy wave not stopping until it encompassed all of France, as well as reaching into parts of the surrounding countries.

About ten minutes after the blast had dissipated, a purple vortex appeared on a hill in the Kalos region, in what remained of Vaniville Town. Almost immediately upon its appearance, a man dressed in a black bodysuit and helmet with an orange visor stepped out and examined the scene. It was the same man that had made contact with Leaf, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Captain Falcon two years ago. He looked out over the scene and if the helmet had not been covering his face, it would have shown him to be aghast at the scene. Wasting no time, he immediately took out a hand-held device that was about the size of a cellular phone and activated it, scanning the scenery, hoping that life signs would be detected. Sadly, the scanner indicated that there was no life in all of France, much less Kalos, and his heart sank.

"Oh no, Ash," he said in dread, knowing that the lack of life signs could only mean one thing. Ash, and likely Pikachu and the rest of his Pokémon were dead. With nothing further to do here, he stepped back through the portal.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

Over in Kanto, Leaf, Captain Falcon, and Donkey Kong were fighting the clones of Xerneas and Yveltal, the trio and their Pokémon just barely dodging an Oblivion Wing attack and a Moonblast barrage. Jolteon retaliated with a Thunderbolt on Yveltal, inflicting moderate damage to the Legendary Pokémon. However, Jolteon was the only one able to directly fight Yveltal at the moment, for roots and plant-like growths sprouted from the ground and quickly took the shapes of Xerneas and a grounded Yveltal. The growths and roots lashed out at the group, forcing them to divide their attention between the Legendary Pokémon as well as the roots and growths.

Leaf immediately ignited her Beam Sword and slashed at a root that had come too close to her and was on the verge of making contact with her skin. The sword severed the root in two, the severed end of the root touching Leaf and seemingly shocking her for an instant but not inflicting any damage on the girl or even causing her any fatigue since the end was no longer connected to the root. Still, she knew that touching a root for even a fraction of a second could be debilitating, if not fatal, something that she did not hesitate to inform her allies of.

"Guys, don't let those roots touch you even for an instant," she called to the others. "Even when a severed root end touched me, I felt a shock."

"Got it," the others affirmed.

She then turned and saw another mass of roots lashing out at her. Swinging her Beam Sword, she slashed at the roots, her sword easily cleaving the roots in two, but she could tell that this was little more than a stalling action. The number of roots was increasing and she feared that it would not be long before the plant-like growths began to accost her and the others as well.

Her concerns were quickly proven correct as she saw several plant-like growths flow along the ground, rushing towards her. Not wanting to risk them getting too close if the Beam Sword was not sufficient to deal with them, she backed away and drew her Ray Gun. She opened fire on the plant-like growths, pulling the trigger and sending forth a pulse of green energy that burned straight through the center of mass of the closest growth, which resembled Yveltal. Much to her chagrin, the Ray Gun inflicted merely a fist-sized burn through its center of mass but did little to stop its approach. She then pulled the trigger again, and again, and again, backing away all the while and making certain to hit different parts of the growth so that her shots would not simply fly through holes she had already burned into it. After the subsequent volley, though, there had been enough structural damage to the growth that it collapsed onto the ground and no longer moved towards her, allowing her to focus her attention on the rest of the approaching growths.

She fired another volley of energy blasts into the approaching growths, trying to take down as many as she could. Much like the first one, it took several energy blasts for her to fell the next growth, this one a Xerneas. This time, though, she had started by aiming at the legs of the Xerneas-shaped growth before targeting the head and abdomen. Still, she could tell that the charge on her Ray Gun was getting low.

She turned to find several more growths lumbering towards her. Taking aim at the lead growth, this one resembling another Yveltal, she fired a series of energy blasts at its legs and wings, taking them off the growth. She then discharged a couple more blasts into the growth's main body, inflicting enough damage that it collapsed in on itself. However, a Xerneas and another Yveltal growth managed to reach her, forcing her to engage them in close combat.

Taking her Beam Sword, she slashed at both growths, bisecting them, though the growths still continued to lumber towards her. She then unloaded the remaining charge of her Ray Gun into the growths, destroying the two of them, causing them to collapse back onto the ground. However, she was not clear by a long shot, for several more growths made their way towards her as she had been fighting off the others. She backed away only to feel the tip of a Xerneas growth antler touch her, the shock that traveled throughout her body telling her just how close to death she had just come. With a quick series of slashes from her Beam Sword, she managed to cut it down. However, she knew that she was in trouble, for she was completely surrounded. Taking a quick glance, she found that her companions were having difficulties of their own against the roots, growths, as well as against Xerneas and Yveltal. She grimaced held up her Beam Sword in a defensive stance, ready to cut down the first growth to reach her. Fortunately, help was about to arrive.

"Leaf, heads up!" she heard Diddy Kong cry as he rocketed towards her, the monkey firing his Peanut Popguns at the growths that were converging on the girl.

The peanuts struck the growths in the heads and knocked them down for a few moments. Despite the lack of damage caused by the guns, it granted them sufficient time for Diddy to reach down and grab Leaf's arms. He grabbed her left arm and lifted her up, rocketing away from the scene. As they rocketed away, the growths slowly turned their heads up towards them. Several roots then sprang from the ground, trying to reach up and grab the girl and monkey.

"Hey Leaf, take an Orange Grenade and give those growths and roots a tasty treat," Diddy directed. "They're in the back of my pack."

The girl then reached into his pack and fished inside for these Orange Grenades that Diddy was talking about. Feeling a soft sphere that had the texture of a real orange, she pulled it out and saw that it was, indeed, an orange. Seeing what looked to be a pin, she bit it and pulled it out with her teeth, the pin coming out surprisingly easily, just as it would in a cartoon. She then dropped the orange among the growths and roots and waited for a few moments until the grenade exploded, blowing apart the growths and shattering the roots.

"Wow," the girl commented. "Those things really pack a punch."

"They do, indeed," Diddy agreed. "They were essential in our battles against K. Rool."

Diddy flew Leaf towards a patch of land not too far away from her Pokémon team that was engaging both the Legendary Pokémon and against more roots and growths. When she landed, Diddy landed next to her and offered her several Orange Grenades, saying, "Take these with you. With your gun's charge being used up, you'll need a ranged weapon like these."

"Thanks," Leaf answered, taking the grenades.

Diddy then took off to help out Donkey Kong and Captain Falcon against the growths that were accosting them. When a Yveltal growth took to the air and went to dive-bomb him, he pulled back his right fist and just as the Yveltal was about to grab him, he thrust his fist out and yelled, "Falcon Punch!"

When he thrust his fist out, an aura of flame formed over his fist in the form of a flaming falcon. His fist collided with Yveltal and forced the growth backwards, as well as setting it on fire, with parts of the ends of its wings flying off from the force of the impact. Captain Falcon then finished off the damaged growth with a Falcon Kick as he performed a flaming flying kick on the growth, incinerating it.

Over at Donkey Kong, she noticed that the ape was using a gun that shot coconuts to hold off a series of growths. Once they were far enough away, he pulled out an Orange Grenade and tossed it over to the growths, retreating from the growths as they walked over the grenade. The grenade then exploded and shattered the growths entirely. Leaf could tell that despite their valiant efforts, they were not getting anywhere and would eventually lose due to attrition if the tree, itself, was not neutralized quickly.

She then turned to her Pokémon and saw them engaging more growths and even Xerneas and Yveltal. Jolteon fired another Thunderbolt on Yveltal and managed to inflict moderate damage to the Dark/Flying-type Pokémon, the Legendary Pokémon backing off so it could fire off a Dark Pulse on Jolteon. Jolteon immediately sped away from the attack, causing the pulse to gouge a several meter hole into the ground. Where almost anyone else or any other Pokémon would have stared in awe and horror at the size of the hole gouged by the Dark Pulse, Jolteon simply fired off another Thunderbolt at the Legendary Pokémon. Again, despite taking a super effective hit, Yveltal was still able to fight. However, Jolteon was soon to get reinforcements in the form of Tyranitar, who had just got finished smashing several growths and could see that Jolteon was having issues dealing with Yveltal.

Running to Jolteon as Yveltal was about to unleash an Oblivion Wing on the Electric-type Pokémon, Tyranitar used Stone Edge to form a barrier between the Dark/Flying-type Legendary Pokémon and Jolteon. The bird-like Yveltal soon unleashed the Oblivion Wing, a violet energy beam right towards Jolteon. The stones that had erupted around the Electric-type Pokémon blocked the attack and, since it was a Rock-type attack, was more effective against Oblivion Wing than it would have been against other attacks since Oblivion Wing was actually a Flying-type move, rather than a Dark-type move, and the beam struck it and splashed off of it, damaging the stone it hit, but not actually destroying it. Both Jolteon and Tyranitar noticed the fact that the stone had not been destroyed and each grinned. They both had an edge over Yveltal and the type disadvantage was something that actually _would_ play a role in the battle despite the fact that Yveltal was a Legendary Pokémon and they were not. They may well have had a chance of winning this fight on their own and not require the help of the others, which was good since the others were engaged in battles of their own.

Not too far away, Starmie and Garchomp were dealing with a number of growths and roots bursting from the ground. Garchomp scanned the area to see just how far away the rest of the team was so she would know if she could use Earthquake safely since Starmie kept to the air to bombard the roots and growths from above. Once she saw that the area was clear of any allies, she took off like a jet, rocketing into the air and then barreled back down to the ground, stomping it as hard as she could. The ground immediately began to shake and visible rings of energy traveled through the ground, damaging anything they came into contact with, root and growth alike. However, since the growths seemed to have the Grass-typing, they apparently suffered less damage than normal and were able to steel themselves against the Earthquake. The roots, on the other hand, were far more fragile. Once the rings washed over them, several of them shattered into pieces while others thrashed around as if in pain before falling to the ground, apparently dazed. Garchomp was not one to take chances, though, and she followed up with a Stone Edge attack, a large number of stones erupting from the ground, shattering roots and impaling growths. Seeing the growths being trapped by the rocks, Garchomp did not lift the stones from the ground, using them to pin the growth in place while she dealt with other threats.

As for Starmie, it quickly saw a large series of roots and growths beginning to burst from the ground to reinforce the ones that were currently being engaged by Leaf's other Pokémon friends. Letting its experience in battle come to mind, Starmie immediately fired off an Ice Beam at the ground, sheets of ice forming on the ground as it swept the beam along it freezing entire area where the growths and roots were protruding from the ground. The frozen roots and growths were rendered immobile by Starmie's attack and the starfish-like Pokémon quickly searched for more growths and roots to deal with.

Not too far away, Chandelure and Venusaur were engaged in battle against Xerneas, the reindeer-like Fairy-type Legendary Pokémon. It was proving to be quite a challenge to Venusaur and Chandelure as it opened the battle by using Gravity to keep the two Pokémon pinned. Despite being a Ghost-type that could float in the air, even Chandelure could not escape the effects of Xerneas's Gravity. To make matters worse, it also kept Venusaur pinned in place, and vulnerable to Xerneas's Aurora Beam, which it fired at the Grass/Poison-type Pokémon. When Venusaur felt himself getting pinned by the gravitational field generated by Xerneas, he immediately countered by firing off a Sludge Bomb, putting more force into the attack knowing that the gravity would be affecting it. This proved to be most fortunate since it was fired right into the path of Xerneas's Aurora Beam. The multi-colored beam of energy struck the Sludge Bomb and the two attacks exploded in midair, creating a cloud of poisonous smoke that caused Xerneas to jump away so that it would not risk inhaling the smoke.

Chandelure then added his own firepower to the fray by launching a Fire Blast at Xerneas. The stick figure-like blast of flame scored a direct hit on Xerneas, but did little more than annoy the Legendary Pokémon. Xerneas retaliated by charging towards Chandelure and used Night Slash on the Ghost/Fire-type Pokémon. Being bound by the gravitational field made evading the attack impossible as Xerneas swung its antlers at the chandelier-like Pokémon as a purple and black aura surrounded the antlers. Chandelure would have suffered a direct hit had Venusaur not covered him with a Sludge Bomb, the ball of sludge hitting Xerneas in the side and sending it skidding along the ground several feet before it dug its blade-like legs into the ground and arrested its momentum. It then turned to see Venusaur glaring at it as he struggled to move to cover Chandelure, the gravity clearly affecting the heavy Pokémon even more than Chandelure.

Xerneas gave a huff as it prepared to launch another attack on the duo standing before it. It began the battle by firing off a Moonblast at Venusaur. The attack scored a direct hit on Venusaur and sent him skidding backwards, Xerneas's Fairy Aura making it so that the attack was more powerful than its normal strengths would have indicated. Venusaur stopped skidding after a few feet but still felt dazed by the blast. It was clearly stronger than he had expected, even from a Legendary Pokémon. He had a feeling that he was not going to survive many more hits like that. He and Chandelure needed to deal with Xerneas and fast, before their immobility would doom them and Xerneas could simply snipe them from afar. Venusaur looked over at Chandelure and saw that he was calmly meditating. Venusaur could only hope that Chandelure's Calm Mind would allow him to have an edge over Xerneas so that they could beat it before it defeated them, which was looking like it was going to be tougher than they had originally thought, despite the fact that they knew that they were going up against a Legendary Pokémon.

Xerneas, sensing that Venusaur was in trouble, went to finish off Venusaur and fired another Moonblast at him. As it had reared back to fire, though, Chandelure's eyes snapped open and he interposed himself between the two Pokémon and fired a Fire Blast to use as a shield against Xerneas's attack. The Moonblast struck Chandelure's Fire Blast and the two were suspended in midair for a second before the Fire Blast began to push back against the Moonblast. Xerneas's eyes went wide with shock at how Moonblast was being overpowered, even though it did have a type disadvantage over the Fire-type Fire Blast. The Fire Blast powered its way to Xerneas and scored a direct hit on the Pokémon, forcing it back a few feet.

Venusaur then gave a cry of, "Venu," warning Chandelure to step aside. Chandelure did so, but not before firing off a Shadow Ball towards Xerneas, the ball hitting the ground a few feet in front of the Fairy-type Pokémon. Xerneas then focused its attention on Chandelure, ignoring Venusaur, for the time being, wanting to deal with the powered up Ghost/Fire-type chandelier. Xerneas fired off another Moonblast, this time managing to score a direct hit on Chandelure before he could fire off another Fire Blast at it. Xerneas gave what passed for a grin as Chandelure was sent flying through the air before Gravity pulled him back down to the ground. Xerneas's Fairy Aura allowed the Moonblast to hit Chandelure hard. It was also evident that Chandelure did not have the same stamina that Venusaur had as it shook itself, as if trying to clear out the cobwebs caused from taking the attack. It was clear that Chandelure would not be able to withstand a second hit. However, that second hit would not come, for while Xerneas was busy dealing with Chandelure, Venusaur sent out a cloud of Sleep Powder.

Chandelure, knowing that the cloud would never reach Xerneas without help, used Psychic to send the cloud towards Xerneas far faster than the Pokémon would have expected. Xerneas fired a Moonblast at the attack, hoping that the energy from the blast would fry the powdery spores and dust from the Sleep Powder. The Moonblast fired a hole into the cloud of powder, but it was not nearly enough to stop it, even when Xerneas swept the beam so that it would incinerate more of the cloud. Eventually, the bluish cloud of powder made contact with Xerneas's skin and Xerneas could feel the lethargy building up as it struggled to stay awake. Eventually, it was unable to remain standing and the Pokémon fell asleep, falling to the ground and remaining still. That was when Chandelure and Venusaur began to punish it relentlessly.

Chandelure unloaded on Xerneas with a Fire Blast while Venusaur first fired a Leech Seed on the sleeping Pokémon on the off chance that it would awaken fairly quickly. As with Sludge Bomb, Venusaur put more power into the launching of the attack due to Gravity's effects. Still, the seeds managed to land on Xerneas and vines burst forth from the seeds and entangled the sleeping Pokémon, then proceeding to sap its energy. Venusaur then followed up with a Sludge Bomb. The Sludge Bomb scored a direct hit on the sleeping Xerneas, the ball of sludge exploding upon impact and engulfing the Fairy-type Pokémon in a cloud of poisonous smoke. Despite the power of the attacks, though, Xerneas did not awaken.

Chandelure and Venusaur took this opportunity to bombard Xerneas with more Fire Blasts and Sludge Bombs. Attack after attack scored direct hits on Xerneas, but the Pokémon still did not fall to the assault. Despite this, Leaf's Pokémon could see that the damage was beginning to mount, but they still felt as if there was something off. Even though Xerneas was a Legendary Pokémon, and a Super Legendary at that, it should have fallen to numerous super effective attacks coming from highly trained, skilled, and powerful Pokémon that had defeated Legendaries in the past.

Eventually, Xerneas awakened and was able to see another Sludge Bomb coming straight at it. This time, Xerneas proceeded to use Night Slash to cut the ball of sludge in two and avoid taking damage. It then glared at the two Pokémon, grinning, ready to unleash its counterattack. It then dug its feet into the ground and the energy from the ground began to flow into it, the ground becoming a deathly gray as energy was being absorbed from it. At first, Venusaur and Chandelure wondered if Xerneas was using Geomancy, but the fact that the burn marks and cuts that marred its once pristine body were healing indicated that the move was more akin to Recover. Their eyes then flashed as they realized that Xerneas was absorbing the life energy from the ground and the tree in order to heal itself and continue the fight. Had it been doing that from the beginning?

Wasting no time, the two Pokémon went back on the offensive. Before Xerneas could fire off another Moonblast, Chandelure used Psychic to freeze the Pokémon in place. The chandelier-like Pokémon then turned to Venusaur and nodded, Venusaur nodding in return, knowing what he had to do. Venusaur then used Toxic, propelling a purple toxic spray to badly poison Xerneas. The spray made contact with Xerneas's body and the poison began to seep through the skin, the fumes also being breathed in by the Fairy-type Legendary. Xerneas's face immediately began to turn purple and it struggled to keep itself from vomiting, the effects of the toxic poisoning being readily apparent. A look of shock and fear crossed Xerneas's face, prompting Leaf's two Pokémon to grin. They had found a weakness to the Legendary Pokémon. Given Toxic's effects, even if it could drain life from the land, it would never be able to keep up with the poisoning's effect. Eventually, it would succumb to the poison and Leech Seed and faint, and possibly even die. Still, Xerneas was not out of the fight yet, and was eager to get its revenge on the two Pokémon that were causing it so much trouble.

Xerneas immediately targeted Venusaur and fired off a Moonblast at the Pokémon. Venusaur countered with a quick Energy Ball, but the Moonblast was able to overpower it and continue to Venusaur, albeit weakened. It scored a direct hit on Venusaur but only inflicted moderate damage. Still, the attack caused Venusaur to stagger backwards, struggling against the blast as well as the Gravity. It attempted to fire another Moonblast to finish off Venusaur, only to vomit instead, opening itself up to another barrage of Sludge Bombs and Fire Blasts from its two opponents. Each of the hits scored on the Legendary Pokémon inflicted more damage, which only served to force Xerneas to bury its blade-like legs into the ground that much sooner to draw more energy from the land. As it did so, it healed a great deal of the damage but was forced to keep drawing upon energy in order to stave off the poisoning from Toxic, as well as the additional damage inflicted by Leech Seed.

It took another potshot at the two Pokémon, this time firing on Chandelure. The blast inflicted only minor damage to Chandelure, whose Special Defense had been increased by Calm Mind, as well as the fact that with Xerneas having to draw energy from the land to heal itself, it was having more trouble focusing its Moonblast into a strong attack. Eventually, it got to the point where the Pokémon was unable to launch any attacks, being forced to constantly draw energy from the land in order to avoid succumbing to the poison. That was when the two Pokémon realized a potential error in their plan.

They looked around and saw the trees off in the distance becoming a deathly gray, almost as if they had been hit by Oblivion Wing. The two Pokémon soon realized that Xerneas would just keep drawing energy to itself from the rest of the land until it lost consciousness. If it was able to do this for a while, a large number of life-forms, possibly even humans and Pokémon, could perish.

The two Pokémon wasted no time calling out to Starmie, who was finishing off a series of growths with Ice Beam, wanting to have it finish off Xerneas. [Starmie, we need you to freeze Xerneas immediately,] Venusaur called. [It's draining the land of its life and if it isn't stopped, it could possibly start doing so in surrounding towns, too!]

[I'm on it,] Starmie called back as it floated over to the two Pokémon. [Chandelure, lift Venusaur off the ground. I'm about to freeze the whole area.]

Chandelure did as he was directed and used Psychic to lift Venusaur off the ground. Once the Pokémon were safely off the ground, Starmie unleashed a massive volley of Ice Beam on the entire area, targeting Xerneas first. The beam scored a direct hit on Xerneas and immediately froze him solid. Starmie then swept the Ice Beam all around the area, forming sheets of ice along the ground and freezing it solid so that more growths and roots would not be able to pierce the ice. More importantly, it was hoped that with a large area of the ground having been frozen, that should Xerneas be able to absorb energy from the ground, even while frozen, that it would have incredible difficulty doing so. Once Starmie had finished freezing Xerneas and the rest of the area, though, Venusaur and Chandelure made Xerneas's fate certain as they fired an Energy Ball and Shadow Ball respectively at the frozen Pokémon. When the two attacks collided with the Pokémon, it shattered into a thousand pieces, the frozen head of Xerneas flying off of the body. Just to make absolutely certain that Xerneas was no more, Starmie used Psychic to crush the frozen head and shatter it. The Pokémon grinned: one Legendary down, one to go.

Back at the battle between Jolteon, Tyranitar, and Yveltal, the Destruction Pokémon, Yveltal fired off another Oblivion Wing at Leaf's two Pokémon, who intercepted it with Thunderbolt and Stone Edge respectively. The power of the two attacks was able to match Oblivion Wing and there was an explosion in midair, the blast cloud that formed obscuring the combatants. Jolteon, then fired off another Thunderbolt, allowing it to strike whatever it would be attracted to, which the Electric-type hoped would be Yveltal. Indeed, the Thunderbolt found Yveltal hovering in the air, still searching for the two combatants so it could finish them off. The bolt scored a direct hit on Yveltal, causing it to cry out in pain and fall to the ground, and right into a Stone Edge attack that erupted from the ground, impaling the Pokémon with the spiky stones. The stones then rose into the air and turned around, slamming into Yveltal's back and driving it back down into the ground, Jolteon adding another Thunderbolt just to make certain that Yveltal was beaten as Yveltal crashed into the ground, throwing up a cloud of dust, not moving.

Yveltal lay completely still on the ground for several moments, long enough to make Tyranitar and Jolteon wonder if they had actually defeated the Pokémon. After a few moments, though, Yveltal began to stir. It craned its neck and glared at the two Pokémon. How could two non-Legendary Pokémon bring it to this point? Even with a type advantage, it was a Legendary Pokémon, and a Super Legendary at that. It then dug into the ground and began to absorb life energy from the ground, just as Xerneas had done. It could feel that the energy was coming more slowly than it had anticipated. Not only that, but some of the energy appeared to have been tainted in a way, too, almost as if poison had seeped into the ground. Carefully absorbing the energy from the ground, as well as the life energy from the perimeter that surrounded the circle of desolation in Viridian Forest, Yveltal healed itself of the damage taken and stood up once more, spreading its wings, ready to do battle once again. This time, it would not hold back.

Jolteon and Tyranitar looked at each other in bewilderment and shock as Yveltal absorbed energy from the ground and rose to face them once more. It took them a second to register that they really needed to unload their strongest attacks on Yveltal _right now_ , before they were blasted by the Destruction Pokémon. Once they realized that Yveltal was fully healed, they unleashed their strongest super effective attacks on the Super Legendary Pokémon once more. This time, though, Yveltal was ready and he rocketed into the air before they got their attacks off. Jolteon's Thunderbolt passed underneath the Destruction Pokémon while Tyranitar's Stone Edge erupted from the ground too late to tag the already aloft Yveltal.

Yveltal made them pay with a Dark Pulse targeted right at Jolteon. The Dark/Flying-type Pokémon unleashed the Dark Pulse just as Jolteon fired his second Thunderbolt. The two attacks collided in midair but the power of Yveltal's Dark Pulse overwhelmed the Thunderbolt and forced it back, the Dark Pulse scoring a direct hit on Jolteon, inflicting significant damage on Jolteon and sending the Electric-type Pokémon tumbling through the air backwards. Jolteon landed on his feet, though, and dug his claws into the ground to arrest his momentum.

Yveltal then proceeded to target Tyranitar with a Focus Blast, the blue orb of energy forming in front of its mouth. It then fired the blast as Tyranitar had the stones from his Stone Edge erupt from the ground and lash out at Yveltal. The blast left Yveltal's mouth and rocketed towards Tyranitar at incredible speed, scoring a direct hit on the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon. Since Tyranitar had a quadruple weakness to the attack, he took massive damage from the attack and was knocked to the ground. However, despite his extreme weakness to Focus Blast, the attack was insufficient to knock him out and he quickly rose, ready to continue the battle against Yveltal, grinning.

Jolteon quickly joined Tyranitar and they glanced at each other, knowing that this was going to be a difficult battle. [I thought we had him earlier,] Jolteon told Tyranitar.

[Yeah, me too,] Tyranitar answered.

[He seemed to dig his claws into the ground and was healed by it.]

[He likely absorbed energy from the ground when he dug into it,] Tyranitar surmised.

[So what do we do?} Jolteon asked.

Tyranitar then grinned. [Keep him from digging into the ground,] he answered as he readied another Stone Edge. The Stone Edge erupted from right beneath Yveltal and sent the Pokémon rocketing into the air. Yveltal grimaced as it took the hit and was sent straight upwards. Still, a single Stone Edge was not sufficient to take it down and it proceeded to flap its wings and rocket above the stones, aiming a Dark Pulse down at them and obliterating them with a single beam. As it was about to fire another Dark Pulse at Jolteon, an Ice Beam came seemingly out of nowhere and scored a direct hit on Yveltal. A sheet of ice began to form over its chest and expand out from the epicenter of the point of impact. The ice then spread around the Pokémon's entire body until it completely engulfed the Legendary Pokémon. Once Yveltal had been frozen completely solid, it fell to the ground. Tyranitar made certain to use Stone Edge to set up a large number of jagged and sharp stones for Yveltal to land, and shatter upon, which it did. When the frozen Pokémon fell onto the stones, it immediately shattered into a thousand pieces, its head flying off and rolling to Tyranitar's feet. Tyranitar then took one step forward, raising his foot and then bringing it down on the severed head of Yveltal, squashing it like a bug and shattering it into a thousand pieces.

With the two Legendary Pokémon having been dealt with, Leaf's team looked around the area and saw Leaf, the Kongs, and Captain Falcon finishing off the remaining growths. Chandelure then lifted everyone off of the ground, Tyranitar allowing himself to be lifted as well, doing nothing to resist, as Starmie then froze the entire area with Ice Beam, sweeping the beam of ice across the entire landscape. After a few seconds, the entire area was reduced to nothing but a sheet of ice. Chandelure then let down the combatants and they examined the scene before them.

"Well, that's one problem taken care of," Diddy Kong commented.

"Yeah, but it won't mean a thing if we don't take out that tree," Captain Falcon retorted.

"I know," Leaf said in a low voice. She then examined the scene and saw the shattered remains of Xerneas and Yveltal. "At least we won't have to worry about the Legendary Pokémon."

"Yeah, but what can we do about that tree?" Donkey Kong asked. "It's the size of a small town."

Leaf then saw her Pokémon approach her. She hoped that they had an idea for how to deal with that tree. Fortunately, Venusaur had just the plan. They came up to her and told her what they had gleaned from their battles against the Legendary Pokémon.

[Mia, during the battle, I used Toxic and Leech Seed on Xerneas and they seemed to have major effects on it,] Venusaur began. [They forced the Pokémon to drain life from the land. It was a miracle that our own life energy was not drained. Leech Seed may have had something to do with that. But more importantly, even the life energy that was being drained could not keep up with the effects of Toxic. Eventually, the Toxic became too much.]

Leaf's eyes lit up at Venusaur's statement. "Do you think that could affect the tree?" she asked.

"Could what affect the tree?" Diddy echoed.

[We don't know for sure,] Chandelure answered. [But we _do_ know that once Xerneas was poisoned with Toxic, it started draining life energy at an accelerated rate so we had Starmie freeze it and then we shattered it. Still, if left alone, Xerneas would have eventually succumbed to the poison.]

Leaf considered their plan. "It's better than nothing," she said.

"What is?" Diddy asked.

"We may have a plan for destroying that tree, but a lot of things have to go right and if it takes a long time, there could still be a great deal of damage done," Leaf began. "During my Pokémon friends' fight against Xerneas, they used Toxic to poison the Legendary Pokémon. Toxic is a status move that badly poisons an opponent. As time goes on, the damage inflicted by the poisoning increases by orders of magnitude. If that tree is vulnerable to poisoning, and if it has Fairy-type characteristics, it will actually be highly vulnerable to poisoning, it will eventually die. But we have to be ready and do everything we can to keep it from expanding its ring of death around it if we do this." She then paused. "I'm open to other plans."

She looked around and saw silence from the others. It was then that Donkey Kong spoke. "I can't think of a better plan. And Leaf's plan _will_ eventually result in that tree's death. I say we go for it."

Captain Falcon nodded as well. "It's our only real shot at the moment."

"So let's get to it," Diddy declared enthusiastically.

Leaf than gave a quick smile before steeling herself. "Okay then, all we really have to do is get to the base of that tree and have Venusaur use Toxic on it. After that, all we have to do is keep those roots from draining the life energy of the surrounding area. If we can limit that, the tree will die that much faster, and the damage will be kept to a minimum."

"That may be easier said than done," Captain Falcon warned as he pointed towards a series of growths and roots that were springing up from the tree near the base of the trunk.

"You guys cover us," Leaf told the Kongs and Captain Falcon.

The trio of heroes nodded.

"Starmie, you're with me and Venusaur, return," she said next. "I'll need you to deploy when we get close to the roots. This has to catch the tree and its defenses off guard." She then took out Venusaur's Poké Ball and returned the Pokémon to it. Once Venusaur had returned, she turned to Tyranitar and Chandelure and told them, "You two stay here and cover the Kongs and Captain Falcon. They'll need your help. She then turned to Chandelure and added, "Your fire can roast the growths and roots." Turning to Tyranitar, she told him, "And your Stone Edge can impale the growths and possibly slow down the roots as well. Anything that can keep them from digging into the ground to gather life energy is a plus and will hasten the tree's demise."

Both Pokémon nodded in affirmation and stood with Captain Falcon and the Kongs. Leaf then looked over at Jolteon and Garchomp, telling them, "Jolteon, I'll also need you to stay with the Kongs and Captain Falcon and cover them. If any roots try to pop out of the ground, don't hesitate to shock them and try to paralyze them. As for you, Garchomp, you'll be swing this mission, either helping cover me while I head over to the tree trunk or helping the Kongs and Captain Falcon against the roots and growths."

As Leaf prepared to make her way over to the tree's trunk with only Starmie as support, Diddy called out, "Hey, you'll need transport if you want to have any hope of reaching that trunk."

"I'll call Funky," Donkey Kong suggested. "His barrel plane has missiles so he can help with cover, as well as giving you transport."

"Good idea," Leaf answered.

Donkey Kong then got out a cell phone and dialed Funky's number. After a couple of rings, he heard Funky answer, "Hey dudes, what's up?"

"Leaf's come up with a potential plan for destroying that tree, but she'll need your help to get there and some cover as well," Donkey Kong answered.

"I'll be there in a snap, just get ready," came Funky's answer.

The group waited for Funky to come down to pick up Leaf. After about ten seconds, Funky's barrel plane arrived on the scene and landed not far away. Before she headed over to the plane, though, Captain Falcon called to her, "Wait, take these with you!"

She looked back at the bounty hunter and F-Zero racer and she saw him hold out a rocket pack, along with a Super Scope, a Ray Gun, and a Steel Diver, a gun that was shaped like a submarine. "This will help you land quickly and safely if you have to jump out of the plane. It'll also give you some aerial mobility if you need to fight while Venusaur poisons that tree," he said, referring to the rocket pack. "The rest is for when you land."

"Thanks," she said, accepting the rocket pack and the weapons. Once she strapped the pack onto her back and holstered the weapons, she ran over to the plane and jumped into the barrel. Starmie hovered over the plane and Garchomp stood by Captain Falcon and the Kongs, waiting for either the roots and growths to attack again, or to cover Leaf and Venusaur as they went to destroy the tree. Once she was inside, Funky took off and flew the plane towards the tree. As he took off, Captain Falcon stepped forward and drew his blaster pistol and a Beam Sword hilt, igniting the blade. He and the others then looked back and were able to see Viridian City off in the distance.

"Okay guys, this is where we make our stand," he told the Kongs. No roots or growths get past our line."

"Right," the Kongs answered, drawing their weapons and taking two Beam Swords as well for dealing with roots once their ammunition ran out. They then stood and waited for the battle of their lives, hoping that the tree would die quickly once it was afflicted with Toxic.

Not too far away, Funky Kong flew Leaf towards the tree. As they neared the tree, it grew in size until it filled the entire cockpit view. Funky gave a whistle. "Now that's one big tree," he commented. "It's bigger than some towns I've seen."

"Then imagine how far that thing's roots can spread," Leaf answered ominously.

"You think this Toxic move'll work against something like that?"

"If it doesn't, then the only way to beat that thing will be through massive bombardment, and there's no telling how long it'll take to get the weapons needed, if it'll be done, or even if it would work. That thing's gotta have some defenses. There's no way it's natural."

Funky nodded. It seemed like the type of thing that K. Rool would have used to destroy Donkey Kong Island if he knew how to do genetic engineering. Looking forward as they approached the tree, and passed underneath the outermost branches Funky saw vines drooping down from the branches. He did not like the looks of those vines and he dipped the plane down further, so that it was only a few dozen feet off the ground. He knew that it was risky since roots could sprout from the ground, but he had a plan.

"Hey Leaf, tell Starmie to freeze the flight path towards that tree's trunk," Funky directed. "I don't like the looks of those vines and I don't want roots popping out of the ground to attack the plane."

"Got it," Leaf answered. She then put on an earwig and relayed Funky's wishes to Starmie. Starmie nodded and floated out in front of the plane and fired off a volley of Ice Beam at the ground, a sheet of ice forming on the ground in the wake of the beam. The sheet grew in size as the Pokémon swept the beam from side to side in front of the flight path of the plane. After a while, there was a thick sheet of ice on the ground that would hopefully keep any roots or growths from coming at them.

As they approached the tree's trunk, the light grew dimmer, the tree's canopy blotting out the sun and the area to the point where it was like night. As they entered the canopy, the vines that were drooping from the branches began to move towards the plane and lash out at it, attempting to either ensnare the aircraft or impale it.

"Woah," Funky cried as he deftly weaved the plane around the vines. "Looks like the tree has defenses of its own."

"Heads up Funky, we've got more," Leaf cried as she spied several Xerneas and Yveltal growths on the ground looking up at the plane. She had a bad feeling that they were more than mere growths and that they could use the same techniques that the real Pokémon could. Her suppositions were soon confirmed as they fired Moonblasts, Oblivion Wings, and Dark Pulses at the plane.

Funky weaved around the energy blasts, and let loose with a couple of missiles, the missiles streaking from the launchers and striking amid the ranks of the growths. The missiles detonated and blew apart the ranks of the growths, woodchips and organic debris flying in all directions as the growths were destroyed. The few surviving growths attempted to return fire, only to be reduced to ashes by Starmie, who used Thunderbolt to fry the growths.

When the plane had gotten close to the trunk, Leaf saw far more vines drooping from the branches, as well as growing on the trunk. She figured that this was close enough and told Funky, "Let me off here. I can go the rest of the way on foot."

"You sure?" Funky asked.

Leaf focused on the vines, as well as the bare ground near the base of the tree and answered, "Yeah. The vines are getting longer and I'd bet that there are roots ready to sprout from the ground near the trunk."

"What about pickup?" Funky asked.

"We can worry about that once the job is done," she answered. "Right now, we have to poison that tree. If this works, we can use that on the other trees around the world, which are almost certainly causing the same amount of damage that this one is."

"Gotcha," the Kong answered. "I'll be flyin' a holding pattern around this area, ready to cover you if you get in over your head."

"Thanks," Leaf answered as she prepared to depart. She then activated her earwig and spoke into it, saying, "Starmie, I'm about to jump. If those roots or vines attack, I'll need all the cover I can get."

Starmie gave a cry, acknowledging her order, and readied itself to catch Leaf as she jumped. Once they were close to the trunk, Leaf jumped out of the barrel and descended from the air. Since she was not too high up, her descent was quick. Once she was near the ground, she activated the rocket pack and slowed her descent until it came to a stop a few feet off the ground. She then cut power to the pack and fell the rest of the way to the ground, landing safely on her feet.

Once she was on the ground, she took a moment to get her bearings. She was on a patch of solid ground that had not been frozen and it was only a few dozen yards to the tree's trunk. However, between her and the trunk was a dense concentration of vines as well as several roots and growths. The growths immediately began to attack, firing Dark Pulses and Moonblasts at her. She retaliated by drawing her Steel Diver and shooting out a volley of torpedoes at the growths. The torpedoes started out exiting the barrel of the Steel Diver traveling slowly, but quickly accelerated, reaching a blistering speed. Each torpedo struck a growth and immediately blew it apart into thousands of woodchips. However, there were still numerous growths left and Leaf did not want to expend all of her ordnance dealing with the growths.

"Starmie, I could use some cover here!"

Starmie immediately came to Leaf's aid, firing an Ice Beam at the remaining growths, sweeping it along their line so that it encompassed the entirety of the remaining growths in Leaf's path. After the growths had been frozen, Leaf whipped out her Steel Diver and fired off one more torpedo, targeting the center of the new block of ice. The torpedo streaked towards the ice block and detonated upon impact, the explosion blowing the ice block apart, and with it, the frozen growths. With the growths having been dealt with, all Leaf had to worry about now were the roots and vines.

As she moved forward, she holstered her Steel Diver and drew her Beam Sword, igniting the blade, knowing that she would be going through a jungle of roots and vines. She also did not want Starmie to freeze the ground, wanting as much of the Toxic poison as possible to seep into it so that the tree would be die as quickly as possible, as well as having the Toxic take care of any seeds and/or seedlings that may have fallen to the ground while the tree had been growing. Still, she knew that Starmie would be useful in frying any vines with Thunderbolt.

As she moved closer to the trunk, roots sprang forth from the ground and lashed out at her. They were no match for her Beam Sword, though, a single swing slicing through several roots and even a few vines that had were attached to the tree that tried to lash out at her and drag her to the tree so they could drain her of her life energy. As for the rest of the vines, though, Starmie provided excellent cover as it used Thunderbolt to fry any vine that drooped low enough to try to grab either it or Leaf.

With no further meaningful resistance from growths, roots, or vines from above, she made her way to the trunk as quickly as possible, hoping that Captain Falcon and the Kongs were having an easier time than she had, as well as hoping that the tree did not have any further tricks up its sleeves. Once she was close enough to the trunk for a Toxic to be launched its way, she stopped and examined the scene. She could see several vines hanging from the lower branches and the tree's trunk, almost certainly a last line of defense against an attack like hers. When she saw the vines, she was beginning to wish that she had brought along some other Pokémon, particularly Chandelure due to his Flamethrower and Fire Blast. Still, she had to work with what she had, and Starmie was no slouch, as it had been proving throughout this battle.

"Starmie, use Thunderbolt to cover us," she told the starfish-like Pokémon. "The vines that will attack are likely to come from the low hanging branches and from the trunk, itself. Fry as many of them as possible, as quickly as possible."

Starmie bobbed up and down and began its attack on the tree, firing a Thunderbolt at the tree to fry any vines that would likely lash out at the girl and Venusaur. Leaf made certain to be standing far enough away so that any grounded Thunderbolts would not adversely affect her, though she suspected that Starmie had good enough control over its attacks to ensure that that did not happen.

As Starmie attacked the tree and its vines, she took out Venusaur's Poké Ball and cried, "Venusaur, it's time! Go!"

The Poké Ball arced in the air and opened at its apex, the ball releasing a blue blob of energy that landed on the ground and formed into Venusaur. "Venu!" Venusaur cried upon emerging from the Poké Ball.

"Okay, we're taking no chances here, Venusaur," Leaf declared as she touched her Key Stone on her Mega Ring. "Mega Evolve!"

The moment she touched her Key Stone, the Venusaurite on Venusaur's necklace resonated with the Key Stone and the Venusaurite began to glow and soon, the glow expanded to encompass Venusaur and he was immediately encased in what looked to be a gray stone. After a few seconds, Venusaur emerged from the stone, looking different from before, though his physical changes were not nearly as apparent as the changes. A pink flower was now on Venusaur's forehead, and had he been standing behind Venusaur, he would have seen one on his rear, too. There were also darker patches of green below the new bloom on the forehead. In addition, there were leaves below the large flower's leaves on Venusaur's back and there were support vines connected to the main flower, too. Once Venusaur had Mega Evolved, Leaf cried, "Use Toxic on that tree! Aim for the ground right next to the trunk."

Venusaur nodded and fired off a spray of purple toxic liquid at the base of the tree's trunk. The liquid splashed on the ground and began to seep into it, the liquid making contact with the tree's base. The moment the Toxic liquid make contact with the tree's trunk, that part of the trunk began to turn a deathly gray. The gray coloring began to spread and the ground began to shake, the tree's roots almost certainly spreading out to search for more life-forms so it could drain their energy and replenish its own, a fact that Leaf was not oblivious to.

"Starmie, we need some ice cover, here!"

Starmie responded by firing an Ice Beam at the ground, Leaf using her rocket pack to jet into the air while Starmie froze the ground beneath her. Venusaur then jumped back onto the icy ground so that the patch he had been stepping on could be frozen. Still, Starmie was careful to not freeze the area just around the tree's trunk as Venusaur launched another Toxic spray at that very same area, hoping to hasten the tree's demise. The Pokémon stared at the tree's trunk and could see the deathly gray coloring rapidly traveling up the trunk. The Toxic spray was taking effect, and the effect seemed to be rapidly killing the tree. More importantly, the speed with which the tree's trunk was turning gray was accelerating, indicating that it was dying much faster, which hopefully meant that the tree's roots were not able to latch onto any life-forms and drain them of life.

Back at the perimeter of the desolation, Captain Falcon and the Kongs were fighting off roots and growths as they were lashing out at them, hoping to latch onto the fighters and drain them of life. The Kongs hurled Orange Grenades at the roots and growths, the grenades landing near the Xerneas and Yveltal growths and detonating, blowing the growths apart. Meanwhile, Captain Falcon was slicing apart roots that were lashing out at him with his Beam Sword, the energy blade effortlessly slicing through the roots. As for the Pokémon, they had roots and growths lash out at them, too, but Chandelure was able to fry them with Flamethrower, with Jolteon destroying the rest with Thunderbolt, leaving Garchomp and Tyranitar to sit back and enjoy the scene.

As time went on and more growths and roots were destroyed, the group noticed that the flow of roots and growths began to slow. Not only that, but the growths slowed down and the attacks that they managed to get off seemed to be much weaker than before. While no one wanted to test that theory by taking a hit, they could tell that the damage inflicted on the surrounding scenery was decreasing dramatically with each attack. That could only mean one thing: that Leaf and Venusaur had been successful and that the tree had been badly poisoned. All they had to do was hold out until the tree died, something they hoped would happen soon.

Back at the tree's trunk, vines dipped down and attempted to lash out at Leaf, but they moved quite slowly due to the poisoning, allowing Leaf and Starmie to easily dodge them. She looked at the trunk and could see that most of the trunk appeared to have turned a deathly gray. She could see Mega Venusaur continuing to use Toxic on the tree.

"Keep it up, Venusaur," she called. "We've got it on the ropes!"

Venusaur did as directed and fired off more Toxic sprays on the stricken Mortality Tree. As more and more of the Toxic liquid seeped into the ground and was involuntarily absorbed into the roots, and traveled throughout the root system of the tree, the more damage was inflicted to the tree, and the quicker its fate was sealed. After a couple minutes, the tree did not have even the strength to extend its vines towards Leaf and Venusaur, the Pokémon continuing to use Toxic on the tree as the tree's bark became grayer and grayer. Leaf and Starmie watched as the effects of the Toxic soon extended to the branches and the vines, the branches becoming a deathly gray and the vines and leaves becoming brown, with some of them beginning to fall off the branches.

In less than fifteen minutes, the tree looked as if it were completely dead and Venusaur stopped using Toxic on it. Either way, its fate was sealed. Leaf glanced over at Starmie in question, wondering if the tree was truly dead. Even without words, Starmie knew Leaf's question and focused on the Mortality Tree. It could sense no energy emanating from either the tree, or from any area in the circle of desolation. It looked down at Leaf and nodded, indicating that the tree had finally succumbed to the Toxic spray. They had done it. The tree was dead.

Leaf could scarcely believe it. She smiled and nearly fell to the ground in satisfaction and exhaustion. They had done it. The tree was actually dead. Viridian Forest, and likely both Viridian City and Pewter City were saved. She looked over at Venusaur and smiled as he reverted back to his normal form. Still, it was not over yet. She had to make sure that Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Captain Falcon were okay.

She took out her phone and dialed Donkey Kong's number. After a few rings, she got an answer. "Hey, Leaf, that you?"

"Yes," Leaf answered. "How are you, Diddy, Captain Falcon, and the Pokémon?"

"We're fine," Donkey Kong answered. "The growths and roots stopped attacking us several minute ago. Even before that, though, they had become really lethargic. The tree looks completely gray, with the leaves having turned brown and some of them beginning to fall. Did you do it? Is the tree dead?"

Leaf could only smile. "It is."

"Then we'll call Funky Kong and have him pick you up immediately."

"Thanks, but that won't be necessary," Leaf answered. "I can walk. Anyway, we have to get to the Viridian City Pokémon Center as quickly as possible. We have to relay what happened here to the other professors and Pokémon Trainers as quickly as possible. There's more than one of these trees."

"Got it. We'll be waiting for you."

"Thanks," she answered. She then hung up the phone and put it back in her bag. She then looked back at Venusaur and Starmie and told them, "We'd better get back to the others. We have to get to Viridian City and relay what happened here to the other professors and Trainers ASAP. This may be their only hope of beating the trees in their regions."

The two Pokémon nodded and then joined Leaf. Once they had assembled, they headed back to rejoin Donkey Kong and the others.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

Meanwhile, Leaf, Venusaur, and Starmie rendezvoused with Captain Falcon, the Kongs, and the rest of her Pokémon team just beyond the now dead Mortality Tree's canopy. They greeted one another with grins and expressions of relief on their faces.

"We did it," Donkey Kong sighed. "It's finally over." He looked back at the now dead tree and then at the group assembled with him. He looked up and saw Funky Kong flying over them, ready to land. "And we didn't lose anyone in the process.

"Not quite," Leaf corrected, causing Donkey Kong and the others to look back at her quizzically.

"What do you mean?" Diddy asked.

"That tree's canopy could block the sunlight for any other plants for a long while," Leaf answered. "And besides, I'd rather have that thing completely destroyed so no one will get the 'bright' idea of trying to grow another one of these monstrosities elsewhere. We have to make sure that there's nothing salvageable here."

Donkey Kong and the others gasped. "Have you seen the size of that thing? It's huge."

"Then it's a good thing we brought a ton of ordnance," Leaf answered with a grin.

"You think all our weapons here will be enough to knock that thing down?" Diddy asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," Leaf answered. "But we _do_ have a barrel plane equipped with air-to-surface missiles and several Pokémon that can launch attacks powerful enough to level military bases."

"Okay then, let's do it," Captain Falcon said for the rest of the group.

Leaf then nodded and told her Pokémon, "Okay everyone, take positions just beyond the tree's canopy. Then we'll wait for everyone else to get ready. We'll want to strike at the base of the trunk so that there will be minimal chance of anything being salvaged."

The Pokémon nodded in affirmation and awaited further instruction. Donkey Kong then got Funky on his phone and told him, "Funky, we're not done yet. Leaf wants us to knock this tree down and destroy its remains so that nothing can be salvaged for any whackjob who may try to repeat the attempt to use trees like this to destroy towns, provinces, regions, or the world. Get set for a run on that tree."

"Will do. Just tell me where to shoot," Funky answered.

"Just target the base of the tree trunk and hit it with everything you've got."

"Got it," came Funky's answer.

He then descended until he would easily be able to fly underneath the tree's canopy. As he flew past the group, Leaf drew out her Steel Diver and Super Scope, wanting to make sure that the maximum amount of fire managed to reach the trees base so that it would come down quickly. Captain Falcon and the Kongs then drew their own weapons and took aim at the tree. Once everyone was ready, the operation began.

Funky was the first to fire, opening up with the missiles from his barrel plane. Each of his remaining missiles erupted from their launch pylons and streaked towards the base of the tree. They struck the dead tree's base and detonated, each explosion blowing away large amounts of bark and wood. The wood underneath, though, was still brown and tough since the tree had only recently died. Still, the missiles inflicted a great deal of damage and the tree became unsteady, quivering and tilting ever so slightly towards the heroes. This prompted Leaf and the others to back away to a safe distance so that they would not be crushed by the falling tree.

Leaf soon added her own fire to Funky's. Aiming her Steel Diver at the holes in the side of the tree, she pulled the trigger, torpedoes erupting from the gun's barrel and accelerating towards the holes so she could inflict more damage. The torpedoes struck inside the holes and inflicted more damage to the tree's trunk, causing it to wobble even more. Still, though, the tree refused to fall. Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Captain Falcon also drew out their Super Scopes and poured more fire into the tree, each blast blowing out more sections of the dead tree's trunk. Still, it would not fall, despite the tree beginning to wobble more noticeably.

Soon, it was Venusaur, Chandelure, Jolteon, and Starmie's turn to attack. Each of them launched powerful energy, flame, and/or explosive attacks at the tree. Venusaur cut loose with a volley of Energy Balls that scored direct hits on the tree's weakened trunk. Chandelure added some fire to the mix with his Flamethrower, setting the base of the tree trunk on fire. Jolteon then added a Thunderbolt to the mix, blowing out more sections of the trunk, sending wood flying out from the blast, and the tree to begin to list towards the side. Starmie then finished everything off with Psychic. Since the tree was dead, the Dark-type aspects of it no longer came into play and the starfish-like Pokémon was able to use Psychic to finish the job. Using its telekinetic power, Starmie pushed the tree so that the trunk broke and fell backwards, away from the heroes. As the group heard the wood breaking as the trunk was being pushed beyond its limit, they soon saw the tree begin to fall. Starmie made certain to make its fall be as gentle as possible so that it would not damage the environment. Soon, the tree fell to the ground, where it sent up a small cloud of dust and remained laying there. All that was left to do was incinerate the remains of the tree, along with its stump.

Chandelure then floated forward and proceeded to finish the job, unleashing a Flamethrower on the fallen tree. He started in the leaves and branches and continued to sweep the Flamethrower down the trunk until it reached its end. The intense heat given off from the inferno forced the group to back off and wait for the tree to be consumed by the flames. Starmie used Psychic to make certain that the flames did not spread beyond the tree. Once the tree was completely engulfed in flames, Chandelure proceeded to incinerate the base stump that was still connected to the dead roots. Starmie assisted with this, using Psychic to ensure that the fires spread to the roots, forcing air through small holes in order to feed the fires. After a few minutes, the tree, its stump, and roots were all reduced to ashes. Now, the battle was truly over.

Once the tree had been completely destroyed, Leaf turned to the rest of the group and told them, " _Now_ , it is over." She then paused before continuing. "We should get to a Pokémon Center as quickly as possible. There are other Pokémon Trainers and Professors researching the rest of these trees and almost certainly know the danger they pose. I have to relay the information on how to kill them to them."

"I can also help spread the word to anyone who's not in the Pokémon World," Captain Falcon added.

"We also heard rumors of strange trees appearing in the Kongo Jungle," Donkey Kong stated. "We should go and investigate, especially if they are the same type of trees that were draining life from the land like this one was."

"I'll leave you some Toxic poison should those trees turn out to be the same type as this one," Leaf told him, taking out a bottle. She then opened it and turned to Venusaur, telling him, "Venusaur, fill this bottle with Toxic poison. Do so carefully since we _don't_ want it to seep into the ground now that the danger has passed."

Venusaur nodded and complied with Leaf's order. Leaf placed the bottle over the center of the opening of the bulb and the Grass/Poison-type Pokémon then shot a glob of Toxic poison into the bottle. Once it was full, Leaf closed the bottle and handed it over to Donkey Kong, who accepted it and handed it over to Diddy Kong to put in his pack. She then took out another bottle for Venusaur to fill. Once it was full, she handed this one to Captain Falcon, who put it in his pocket. Once they were ready, Captain Falcon headed off to his Blue Falcon and Donkey Kong waited for Funky to land so he and Diddy could head back to Donkey Kong Island. Once Funky landed, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong boarded the plane and he then took off once more, leaving Leaf alone with her Pokémon.

With the others having departed, Leaf turned towards her Pokémon and saw that they were showing signs of fatigue and damage from the fighting. A checkup at the Pokémon Center was also in order. She smiled at them and told them, "You all did great back there. You all deserve a good rest, and also a checkup at the Pokémon Center."

She then took out her Poké Balls and returned each of her Pokémon to them. Once she had returned her Pokémon to their Poké Balls, she clipped them to her belt. Once she was ready, she headed out of Viridian Forest and followed the path into Viridian City.

It did not take long for Leaf to enter Viridian City and reach the Pokémon Center. As she did so, she made her way past the Viridian City Gym and scowled. Memories of its previous Gym Leader, Giovanni, came flooding back to her. While she had never been taken to the gym while she had been in Team Rocket's captivity, she knew that it had been reduced to being a front for Giovanni's criminal activities. The fact that it was now run by Gary Oak, another person that she was less than fond of, did not help things. Making her way past the gym, she followed the road until it came to the Pokémon Center. Turning to her right, she walked to the door, which slid open to grant her entry, and went in.

When she entered, she found that the Pokémon Center was practically deserted, save for the Nurse Joy and the Chansey at the front desk. She did not think much of the lack of activity in the center and merely went up to the front desk. When she did so, Nurse Joy looked up from her computer screen and smiled welcomingly at the girl.

"Welcome to our Pokémon Center. How may we be of service?" the nurse asked.

Leaf then placed her six Poké Balls into six slots in a metallic tray in front of her and answered, "My Pokémon friends and I were just in a difficult battle and they could use some rest and a checkup."

"Don't worry. We'll take them back and make certain that everything's okay," Nurse Joy answered cheerfully. "You can sit at any one of the tables in the center. As you can see, with that mysterious tree growing in Viridian Forest seemingly draining the life energy of the forest, most of the people have left the town, fearing that the effects will spread here."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that tree," Leaf answered. "It's just been taken care of."

Nurse Joy did not know what the girl meant at first until she looked down at the metallic tray that contained the girl's Poké Balls and figured that the battle she had been talking about was the fight against the tree. She then looked at the girl but said nothing, merely taking the tray and handing it off to Chansey before the large egg-shaped Pokémon headed into the back room to check up on the girl's Pokémon. Nurse Joy soon joined Chansey and Leaf went over to search for a phone so she could make contact with Lance, Cynthia, and other Champions so she could relay everything she had learned from her battle against her tree to them. She found a videophone over in the corner. Since the Pokémon Center was empty, there was no one near it, so she would likely be able to talk for a while.

She went over to the phone and immediately dialed Cynthia's phone number, the number appearing on the screen before her. After a few rings, a message sounded in Cynthia's voice, saying, "Hello, you've reached the house of Cynthia. I'm not available to come to the phone right now, but if you leave a message, I'll respond to your call as soon as I can. Bye bye." The message sounded more cheerful than Leaf had remembered. Either way, she suspected that if Cynthia was not home, that she would keep her cell phone close by.

She then went to dial Cynthia's cell phone number, the number appearing on the screen as she dialed it. A couple of rings sounded before the phone was picked up and a connection was established. Since it was her cell phone, though, there was no picture on the screen of Cynthia, save for what looked to be an old photo of the Champion. "Hi, this is Cynthia. I'm a little busy at the moment, so please hurry."

"Hello Cynthia, this is Leaf over in Kanto. What's going on?"

"Leaf?" the Sinnoh Region Champion blurted. "Well, right now, I'm fighting the defenses of a tree the size of a small town that's draining the life energy of the entire area around the Eterna Forest. Everything that's had its life drained has been turned to stone."

"Just like the tree I fought in Kanto's Viridian Forest," Leaf stated plainly. "Listen, I've figured out how to kill these trees. Have a Pokémon use Toxic on the tree near its trunk. That'll badly poison the tree and it'll die since, after a while, it won't be able to absorb life energy fast enough to replenish the damage inflicted by Toxic."

"Thanks," Cynthia answered. "I'll try it here and relay the information to the others. They're all having issues dealing with their own trees. I'll let you know how well it works, if I can. We've already lost Lucas and Barry and Dawn's still unconscious from having had a root touch her skin. We barely managed to cut it before she was completely drained."

"Do you want me to contact the others?" Leaf asked.

"No, I'll do it," she answered. "Aside from Lance, I'm the only other Champion that's still battling the trees. Alder, Iris, and Steven have already fallen to their trees leaving only May, Ethan, Hilda, and Hilbert in the other regions that have beaten their regions' Elite Fours, and they're having their own problems against these trees."

"Good luck to you and the other survivors," Leaf wished. "Is there anything else I can do?"

"Not that I can think of," the Sinnoh Champion answered. "I'll let you know if anything comes to mind, as well as inform you if, and hopefully _when_ , the, what we're now calling the Mortality Trees, are finally beaten."

"I'll be waiting," Leaf answered.

"Thanks," Cynthia finished as she hung up the phone, the picture then going blank. Once the conversation was finished, she then waited for news from Cynthia about the outcomes of the various battles taking place around the world.

Over in the Sinnoh Region, in what had once been the Eterna Forest, Cynthia and Dawn's remaining Pokémon: Mamoswine, Lopunny, and Typhlosion continuing to fight against a Xerneas, as well as against various growths and roots, the desiccated husks of what had once been Dawn's Piplup and Pachirisu lying on the ground as their life energy had been drained by the roots and growths. Togekiss did everything she could to keep Dawn alive and protect her from any attacking roots or growths, only to be ensnared by a series of roots and have her life energy drained, the bird-like Pokémon's face going blank and her body then turning to stone as her life energy was drained.

Cynthia looked behind her and grimaced. She knew that the only chance they had was to use Toxic on that tree. However, Xerneas was making that more difficult than she had hoped it would be. She had been shocked when she realized that Xerneas was, indeed, a Fairy-type Pokémon and that her strongest Pokémon's strongest attacks were useless against it. However, she had not been without hope, for she was a Champion, and her team had the necessary power to defeat the enemy Pokémon.

The beautiful, serpentine Milotic rushed in front of Cynthia's team as Xerneas fired a Moonblast towards them, attempting to finish them off. "Milotic, use Mirror Coat," Cynthia cried. "It's our only chance of surviving this!"

Cynthia's Milotic nodded and raised herself a bit and used Mirror Coat, a blue barrier forming over the Pokémon an instant before the Moonblast would have hit. Almost an instant later, the blast struck the Mirror Coat barrier and pushed against it, forcing Milotic back a few feet, she stood firm and, eventually, the beam was reflected back at Xerneas. Given the damage the Fairy-type Legendary had suffered in its battle against Cynthia, Lucas, and Dawn's teams, the Pokémon was unable to withstand its own reflected Moonblast. The Moonblast struck Xerneas squarely in the head and knocked it unconscious.

"Now, while Xerneas is down, Roserade, use Toxic on that tree! Destroy it!" Cynthia commanded. "The rest of you, cover Roserade."

Roserade nodded and rushed towards the tree's trunk, wanting to get as close enough to have Toxic score a direct hit on it. That was made difficult by the number of roots and growths that rose up to meet her. Spiritomb, Togekiss, Lucario, Milotic, and Garchomp formed a wall in front of Roserade and unleashed their strongest attacks on the roots as Roserade threw caution to the wind and unleashed a stream of Toxic, allowing it to land short of the trunk, but knowing that it would force the roots to have to worry about coming into contact with the Toxic poisoning.

The Pokémon force in front of her used Air Slashes, Ice Beams, Aura Spheres, and Dark Pulses to destroy waves of growths and any roots that sprang up from the ground and lashed out towards Roserade. As the bipedal rose-like Pokémon approached the trunk, the numbers of growths seemed to increase, but the numbers of roots seemed to decrease, almost as if they were terrified of the prospect of making contact with the Toxic poison that was seeping into the ground. Nevertheless, the growths were no match for the power of Cynthia's Pokémon as they unleashed torrents of energy upon them and annihilated them. More firepower came in the form of Dawn's remaining Pokémon as Typhlosion fired off a Flamethrower while Mamoswine used Ice Shard to bombard some of the remaining roots and Lopunny using Ice Beam to freeze the ground around Dawn, in order to protect her, and then freeze the area around Cynthia's team in order to keep roots from popping up close to them.

Eventually, Roserade made it to the point where she could get a clear shot at the trunk. An Ice Beam assault from Milotic and Lopunny froze any growths that were unengaged by the rest of Cynthia and Dawn's teams, leaving the way free for Roserade. Roserade fired off the Toxic, which arced through the air and landed right next to the tree's trunk, the poison splashing onto the trunk and seeping into the ground.

The moment the poison made contact with the trunk, a round section of bark turned a deathly gray and began to peel. The wood underneath also began to turn gray. After a few moments of the poison seeping into the ground, the bottom of the trunk began to turn gray, the tree already being affected by the poison. The tree attempted to draw more life energy from the surrounding area to offset the damage being inflicted by Toxic, but it was already too late. The tree was unable to recover anywhere close to enough energy to offset the damage and more and more of the tree began to turn gray. After five minutes, the tree was finally dead, the entirety of the tree becoming a deathly gray.

Once the tree was dead, Cynthia decided to leave nothing to chance. "Garchomp, use Draco Meteor to knock that tree down."

Garchomp eagerly obeyed and fired off a single orange orb into the air that at the apex of its climb split off into a dozen smaller meteors that rained down on the dead tree, blowing holes into it and knocking it down. Once the tree was down, Cynthia turned to Dawn's Typhlosion and told him, "Typhlosion, use Flamethrower on the tree's remains. Incinerate it all."

Typhlosion obeyed and let out a stream of flame on the tree's remains. The dead wood caught fire and erupted into flames. It only took a few minutes for the wood to be entirely consumed by the flames. The battle was finally over. The Mortality Tree was dead.

With the tree dead, Cynthia, her Pokémon, and the remnants of Dawn's team went over to Dawn, who was still lying on the ground. As they arrived, they saw her begin to stir. She opened her eyes and saw that the tree was gone and asked, "Is it done? Is that tree dead?"

"It is," Cynthia answered, nodding, giving her a kind smile.

Dawn's Pokémon also nodded and surrounded her and helped her to her feet. She stood up and tested her strength, able to take a step forward without falling down. She then took a look around and saw that Togekiss was also a fatality of the battle and she frowned. "It certainly cost enough," she said in a distant and wistful tone.

"We should also get you looked at, just to make sure that there aren't any side-effects to the life drain," Cynthia suggested.

"Take my Pokémon to the Pokémon Center first," Dawn told her.

"We will," Cynthia assured her. "But you have to be looked at, too," she told the girl sternly. She then looked at the still flaming remains of the tree and focused on it. "Okay, we know that Leaf's Toxic strategy works. We've gotta spread the word to the others. This may be the only way of stopping these things."

With that, Cynthia took out her cell phone and began to dial the numbers of other Champions, Grand Festival Champions, and other renowned researchers and Trainers. She had to let them know how to beat those trees before any more lives were lost, or more damage was done to certain areas of the world. Once she was finished, she then helped Dawn over to her jeep and went to drive the girl to the closest hospital so she could be checked up on and make sure that there were no residual effects to being touched by the roots of the Mortality Tree. As she made her way to the hospital, she spread the word to the other teams on how to destroy the Mortality Trees.

Over in the remains of the Petalburg Woods in Hoenn, the Hoenn Grand Festival Champion, May, received Cynthia's message during her encounter with the Mortality Tree and immediately went to work implementing her plan. Looking ahead, her team, consisting of Blaziken, Venusaur, Blastoise, Beautifly, Delcatty, and Glaceon were holding their own against the roots and growths that were the remaining defenses of the tree. Steven's Pokémon had engaged the Xerneas and Yveltal that had been the main defense and had managed to fell the Pokémon, albeit at the cost of their own lives in the process, with Steven also falling during the battle. Still, it had allowed Brendan and May to focus solely on fighting the growths and roots. Unfortunately, Brendan and his Pokémon had fallen to the roots and May's were showing signs of fatigue. She was thrilled when Cynthia had made contact with her and had told her of a successful plan cooked up by Leaf to fight these growths. She immediately went to work implementing said plan.

"Everyone, we've got a means by which we can take down that tree," she cried to the others. "Everyone, form a ring around Venusaur. You're her protection. Venusaur, you get close to that tree trunk and use Toxic on it! That's the only way we'll stop this thing."

The Pokémon obeyed and immediately formed a ring around Venusaur as she rushed towards the tree's trunk. The Pokémon unleashed a torrent of attacks on the roots and growths from Flamethrowers to Ice Beams, to Blizzard attacks, and also gusts of Silver Wind. Each of the attacks incinerated, froze, or cut the growths and roots lashing out at her Pokémon to pieces. The roots and growths did not stop coming, though, and all during Venusaur's short trek, her escort were unleashing wave after wave of fire and ice-based attacks, hoping to either incinerate or freeze any growths and roots that came at them.

Eventually, Venusaur reached firing range for Toxic and fired a spray of Toxic sludge at the tree's trunk. The sludge hit the ground at the base of the trunk and began to seep into the ground. The moment it did so, the damage was done. The point of contact with the tree at the base was already beginning to turn a deathly gray. The rest of the trunk soon began to turn a deathly gray and the leaves became brown and began to fall off the branches. Soon, the branches turned gray, themselves, and it was clear that the tree was dead.

Not one to be satisfied with the dead remains of a tree that had caused so much damage and death, May took one look at Blaziken and told him, "Blaziken, use Flamethrower on that tree. Reduce it to ashes."

Blaziken nodded and obeyed, unleashing a massive Flamethrower on the tree. The stream of flame struck the tree at the base and it began to catch fire. Blaziken was not satisfied with just the base of the trunk catching fire, though, and he proceeded to sweep the Flamethrower upwards until the entire tree had been transformed into a blazing inferno. After a few minutes, enough of the tree had been consumed that it began to collapse under its own weight. A few minutes after that, the tree was nothing more than a pile of ashes.

After the fight was over, May looked on with grim satisfaction. The battle was over. The tree had been destroyed, albeit at a terrible cost. Steven Stone and all of his Pokémon were dead. So, too, were Brendan, Wally, as well as the entirety of both their Pokémon teams. The cost was too high, far too high. Whoever had engineered those trees needed to pay, possibly with the ultimate penalty. She did not know of Lysandre's fate, or that of Ash and his friends in Kalos, though. As such, she heaved a great sigh and proceeded to head back into Petalburg City so she could take her Pokémon to the Pokémon Center for a checkup.

The news of Leaf's victory over the Mortality Tree in Kanto was quickly making its way around the world as Cynthia relayed the girl's plan to stop the trees. Over in Unova, the Unova League Champion, Hilda, and her friend, Hilbert, were taking on the Mortality Tree in Pinwheel Forest. When they had heard Cynthia relay the means to destroy the Mortality Tree, Hilda stepped forward and cried, "Lilligant, change of plan! Get close enough to that tree's trunk and use Toxic on it. That's the only way we can be assured of that this tree will die. Everyone else, cover Lilligant. She must make it to the tree's trunk in order to deliver the Toxic to the tree's trunk, no matter the cost!"

Hilda's team, consisting of Samurott, Krookodile, Eelektross, Haxorus, Chandelure, and Lilligant then made their way towards the tree's trunk, unleashing a torrent of Ice Beams, Thunderbolts, Flamethrowers, Dragon Pulses, and Stone Edges towards the growths and roots that were accosting them. Krookodile impaled a group of growths as it performed a Stone Edge, the stones erupting from the ground underneath a group of growths and took them out of the fight. Meanwhile, Samurott and Chandelure froze another series of growths and fried another with Ice Beam and Flamethrower respectively.

Not too far away, Hilda's friend and rival, Hilbert, heard Hilda tell her team how to stop the tree. Knowing that he did not have any Pokémon that knew Toxic on him, he told his team, consisting of Emboar, Excadrill, Sawk, Reuniclus, Beartic, and Jellicent, to cover Hilda's Lilligant. Emboar unleashed a Flamethrower to fry a series of growths that were launching a volley of attacks on Hilda's Lilligant while Beartic and Jellicent fired off a volley of Ice Beams to freeze a series of roots that were lashing out at Hilda and her team. They, along with Samurott, then fired a series of Ice Beams on the ground to freeze it, as well as create a relatively trail for Lilligant to follow in order to reach the tree's trunk.

Lilligant followed the trail, covered by the rest of Hilda and Hilbert's teams as they took out any roots or growths that managed to get a little too close to Lilligant. This was easier than it had been for other regions since Hilda and Hilbert had used their whole teams to overwhelm Xerneas and Yveltal and destroy them early on in the battle. Sadly, they had arrived too late to save Alder or Iris, who had encountered the Mortality Tree unexpectedly in the forest and had quickly become casualties in the fight.

Once Lilligant was close enough to the trunk, she fired off a spray of Toxic sludge. The sludge landed near the base of the tree and seeped into the ground, just as it had with the others who had used the attack. As the poison seeped into the ground, the base of the tree began to turn a deathly gray, indicating that it was poisoned, and doomed to die. The effects of the Toxic poisoning traveled up the trunk as it began to become gray. Soon, the leaves turned brown and began to fall from the branches in advance of the branches turning gray, which eventually, they did, too. After a few minutes, the tree's fate was sealed and it was dead.

Once Hilda and Hilbert were sure that the tree was dead, they decided that it was time to ensure that its remains could never be harvested for future use. Hilda looked over at Chandelure and told her, "Chandelure, use Flamethrower on that tree. Incinerate it."

"Emboar, you use Flamethrower on that tree, too," Hilbert echoed. "Make sure that nothing of that tree remains."

The Pokémon nodded and proceeded to unleash massive Flamethrower attacks on the dead Mortality Tree. As the flames made contact with the decaying tree, it immediately went up in flames. They swept the flames along the tree's trunk and even along its branches in order to ensure that the tree was completely destroyed. After fifteen minutes or so, nothing of the tree remained save for a pile of ashes. With the battle having concluded, the duo proceeded to make their way to the nearest Pokémon Center so they could have their Pokémon checked on.

Over in the Ilex Forest in the Johto Region of Japan, Lance and Ethan were making their desperate last stand against the Mortality Tree that had drained the life energy of almost everything else in the forest when. Kris, Lyra, and Silver had already had their life drained, with Silver having been destroyed when Xerneas shot his petrified form with Moonblast. Kris and Lyra's petrified bodies were still intact near the edge of the forest, them having been blindsided early on in the fighting, but now, the fighting was far away from them. The petrified forms of other Trainers that had come to help also lined the area, along with the petrified bodies of their Pokémon.

The roots lashed out at Lyra's sole remaining Pokémon, a Meganium, and managed to latch onto it. The moment the roots touched Meganium, it gave out a loud cry as its life energy was being drained from it. Typhlosion quickly retaliated with a Flamethrower to the roots, but it was too late. By the time the roots were incinerated and broke off from the tree, Meganium's life energy had been drained and its body was petrified.

Ethan grimaced and returned his attention back towards the tree and the growths and roots that were sprouting from the ground. His Pokémon unleashed a flurry of attacks on it, firing off Flamethrowers, Stone Edges, and Thunderbolts while Espeon and Umbreon stood back since they had no effective ranged attacks that could be used against the growths, as had been discovered when Espeon had tried to use Psychic against them before, only for it to be ineffective.

The barrage of attacks incinerated, fried, and impaled root and growth alike, the animated growths and roots being no match for Ethan's Pokémon. Lance's Dragonite added its own power to the mix as it fired off a Hyper Beam at a line of growths that were making their way towards Ethan's Pokémon. The orange beam vaporized the growths and roots but more were coming.

Things were looking hopeless for the duo until Lance got a phone call from Cynthia, telling him of the weakness of the Mortality Tree. The moment he heard the news, hope reentered his heart and he called out to Ethan while Cynthia was still talking, "Ethan, we have a way of beating that tree! Have a Pokémon that knows Toxic use that move on the tree! It's the only sure way of destroying that thing!"

"Got it," Ethan answered. He then turned to his Pokémon and commanded, "Ampharos, get into range of that tree's trunk and use Toxic on it. That's the only way we can stop that thing. Everyone else, cover Ampharos."

His Pokémon nodded and proceeded to form a ring around Ampharos as the Pokémon made its way forward, with Dragonite covering the team from above. As they made their way to the tree's trunk, they unleashed a fusillade of attacks on the growths and roots, incinerating and impaling them as they protected Ampharos. Slowly, but surely, they made their way over to the trunk, leaving a trail of ash and jagged stone in their wake.

Once Ampharos reached the trunk, Ampharos spat out a Toxic spray into he air. The purple sludge arced through the air and landed at the base of the tree, some of it splashing on the tree's trunk, itself. The bark of the trunk turned a deathly gray at the point of contact with the Toxic and the gray shade began to spread. As the poison seeped into the ground, the deathly gray shade spread even faster. Within a few minutes, the gray had spread all the way up the trunk and to the branches, the leaves turning brown and beginning to fall from the tree. After a couple more minutes, the tree was completely dead.

Once the tree was dead, Ethan and his team retreated from the tree until they were beyond the tree's canopy and he turned to Typhlosion and told it, "Typhlosion, use Flamethrower to burn this thing to the ground. Leave nothing at all."

Typhlosion nodded and focused its gaze on the tree's trunk. It then opened its mouth and unleashed a massive stream of flame. The flame splashed against the dead tree's trunk and it began to catch fire. Typhlosion then moved the stream upwards and the flames began to spread all throughout the tree until the entire tree caught fire. The tree burned for fifteen minutes until it was reduced to ashes. Once the tree was completely destroyed, Lance and Ethan proceeded to call back their Pokémon and make their way to the nearest Pokémon Center in order to have their Pokémon checked. They did not want to spend one more instant in this now dead forest, surrounded by such death.

Meanwhile, in another dimension, the man emerged from a purple vortex in a magical land that looked to be very similar to mystical lands that he had heard of in myth and legend. Light shown down from above, but this was not light from the sun. Instead, it was light that was generated by a large, golden triple triangle that floated up in the sky. He looked up at the object and removed his helmet, revealing himself to have black hair and blue eyes. The portal closed behind him, which did not concern him at all. While his mission had been okayed by his master, he had a more personal reason for seeking the relic that he saw floating above.

"Excellent," he said audibly. "Master Hand's portal device led me straight into the Sacred Realm."

He then walked forward until he was standing directly underneath the glowing object. "And with the Triforce, I'll be able to undo the damage inflicted by Lysandre's Ultimate Weapon and the Mortality Trees."

He then raised his hands and the relic descended from the sky, as if being summoned by the man, despite the fact that the man did not have any magic or psychic powers. It descended until it floated next to him, the entire relic only being about as tall as he was. Despite the fact that he had no magic or psychic ability, though, he could still sense the incredible power of the relic before him. He had heard about the Triforce from stories told by his comrades in the Subspace Army, as well as from Master Hand. The Triforce was said to be able to grant any wish asked of it by someone who touches it, assuming they had the aspects of power, wisdom, and courage in balance. If the aspects were not in balance, the one who touched the relic would only get the piece of the relic that corresponded with the aspect that he or she most identified with. In the time that he had spent serving the Subspace Army, the man had learned to keep all three aspects in balance. He had never anticipated needing to use the Triforce before, but he had a feeling that it would not split when he touched it.

He then reached out and touched the relic. The moment he did so, the relic glowed, and he made his wish: for the damage done by Lysandre to be undone and for everything on Earth to return to normal. After making the wish, the relic continued to glow, but the man could tell that something was not right. Despite the glow, nothing was happening. It simply floated there, still active, but not really doing anything. For a moment, he wondered if something was actually blocking the power of the Triforce. He shook off the thought. Who else besides the Golden Goddesses, the very creators of the relic, itself, or someone, or something, even stronger than them could actually override the power of the Triforce? And why would someone want to stop him in the first place? Lysandre and Team Flare were dead.

Just as he was asking himself those questions, he heard the faintest signs of movement behind him. He immediately whipped himself around and opened two Poké Balls, the forms of Charizard and Espeon forming in the air and landing in front of him, both of who assumed fighters' stances. Standing behind the man were three women: one with orange hair, another with green hair, and another with blue hair. They were wearing identical sleeveless dresses that fell to their ankles. They were almost certainly triplets and looked to be young, barely out of their teens, if that, but they were incredibly powerful. The cat-like Espeon stared at the women and almost recoiled in shock, as if sensing the incredible power emanating from the women.

"Who are you?" the man asked. He had a good idea of who they were, but he wanted to be sure.

"You already know, John, son of Hiro," the woman with green hair answered.

"So I take it you're Din, Farore, and Nayru: Hyrule's Golden Goddesses," he stated plainly.

The women nodded.

"Are you the ones preventing the Triforce from working?" he asked. "I know that my wish was not granted."

"No," the woman with orange hair, Din, answered, shaking her head.

"What?" John asked, his eyes flashing. He could scarcely believe what he had heard. The only other relic that could match the Triforce in power was the Star Rod, which was safe in Star Haven in the Mushroom Kingdom under the protection of the Star Sprites. Granted, Bowser had managed to acquire the Star Rod a few years back, but that had since been retrieved and was now safely in the Star Haven vaults once more.

"We are doing nothing with the Triforce," the woman with blue hair, Nayru stated.

"Then what could be preventing the power of the Triforce from taking effect?" came John's next question.

"It could be a number of things," Farore, the woman with green hair answered. "It could be that there is a force powerful enough to override the power of the Triforce is affecting it. You are not from Hyrule. This Sacred Realm is connected to Hyrule. The power of the Triforce would have to travel a great distance to affect something on Earth. That takes energy and even the Triforce is not without its limits. It would take more power to fulfill a wish on Earth than it would on Hylia, or even Smash World. Even if something might not be stronger than the Triforce, it could still have enough power to override a wish or prevent it from occurring, depending on what your wish is."

"A great deal of damage was done to my world," John stated. "Hundreds of millions of people are dead, maybe more, and a nation was completely destroyed. Even worse, multiple Chosen Heroes perished in the series of events that led to said nation's destruction."

"This is unfortunate," Din said plainly. The other two women nodded.

"Unfortunate?!" John roared. "Hundreds of millions of people are dead, including my son, and all you can say is unfortunate?"

"And what would you have us do?" Nayru asked. "Even with our power added to the Triforce, your wish is still not being granted."

John's eyes flashed before the goddesses continued, "There are few things that can override our powers. One of them is The One Above All, himself. If that is the case, then you could be looking at a focal point in time where all points and alternate timelines lead to a single point. The creation of a world with sentient life, the manifestation of The One Above All to a society, truly important events that could lead to a world's salvation; these are all events that are focal points and cannot be undone, even by a wish made to the Triforce. Of course, there is also the possibility that something could be actively interfering with the power of the Triforce. If it is the latter, then all you have to do is deal with that issue. If it is the former, though, then you would have to make a different wish."

"There is another option," Farore interjected, causing John to turn to face her. "It is also possible that what you are wishing for will not come to fruition as you wish merely by making a wish because that is not truly your desire. Perhaps you _think_ that this is your real wish, but your real wish could involve a lot more than you know. Perhaps even _you_ don't know what you are really wishing for."

"I want my son to live," John declared. "And I also want the damage done by Lysandre's attack to be undone."

"That could be difficult," Nayru stated. "Life and death are not things to be taken lightly. If those that died are intact, then they may still be able to be revived. However, if their bodies were destroyed, then there is little that can be done."

"I understand that, but why would that stop the Triforce from reviving those that _can_ be revived?"

"I do not know," Nayru stated, shaking her head. "But I would not lose hope," she added. "We know some things about your world. There are powers there that are great, on our level or even stronger. The One Above All has taken an interest in your world. There are also other god-like beings on your world.

"Of course!" John blurted. "Perhaps we _do_ have a chance after all!"

His Pokémon did not know what he was talking about but they could feel his enthusiasm. Before turning to leave, though, he went over to the Triforce to streamline his wish. He touched the Triforce and made his wish: for his plan to save Kalos to be successful. When he made that wish, the Triforce's glow became even more brilliant and a ringing sound echoed throughout the landscape. After he had made his wish, the Triforce broke off into three pieces, each of which promptly vanished from the Sacred Realm, something that surprised him. He could not afford to worry about the Triforce and where its pieces wound up at the moment. If what he hoped to happen did, what happened here would not matter at all, for it never would have happened. All he could hope for now was that his intuition was correct. However, for this plan to save Kalos to succeed, he would need to gather the greatest heroes that Earth had at its disposal as quickly as possible. He knew that that would be difficult since many of Earth's heroes were either dead or fighting in the Galactic Federation Civil War. Still, there were a few who could help.

With that thought, he called back his Pokémon and reactivated the purple portal. A purple vortex appeared in front of him and stepped on through back to Smash World. From there he took a portal to Earth. He needed to gather as many Chosen Heroes that were in fighting condition as he could find. The fates of hundreds of millions of people, as well as that of his own son, depended on it.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

Back in the Viridian City Pokémon Center, Leaf sat at a bench, waiting for Nurse Joy to come out with her Pokémon. The nurse had gone back while she had made her phone call to Cynthia and now, all she could do was wait for her Pokémon's checkup to be completed. While she was waiting, she considered the recent events that had unfolded in Kalos. She had finally managed to catch up to her brother and get a chance to see him after a long time and see how he was doing on his journey. She also got a chance to visit the Kalos Region for the first time in almost two years. While her visit had been unceremoniously cut short, likely due to the false accusations made against her by a disguised Team Flare agent to Professor Sycamore, resulting in her being betrayed to Team Rocket, who, themselves, had awful disguises that still fooled the professor and his friends, she still believed that the trip had been worth it.

Her thoughts soon turned to the Mortality Trees, particularly the one that had been in Viridian Forest, and she hoped that the few trees that she had heard of were the only ones that were growing in the world. If there were others, and they had not been found, they would likely not be discovered until a great deal of damage to the life-forms of the surrounding area had been inflicted. Still, she was confident that if more trees were out there, that they could be destroyed. After all, Cynthia and other Pokémon League Champions knew how to defeat the trees, as well as having experience in fighting their defenses. If worst came to worst, they could be beaten.

Not long after, her thoughts then turned to Ash Ketchum and Serena. She had recognized both of them as having been Chosen Heroes from the datapad that she had received on her first visit to Kalos over two years ago, but they did not seem to act like Chosen Heroes. Despite Ash and Pikachu being the reason for her capture, she hoped that that liability would not lead to trouble for Ash or Serena, but she had a bad feeling that it would. To make matters worse, a bad feeling had come over her during the fight against the Mortality Tree in Viridian Forest and she could only hope that it did not have something to do with Ash or one of his friends, human or Pokémon.

As she was musing on the recent events, she heard a soft chime come from behind the counter. The light that indicated that the back room was occupied and Pokémon were being checked on went dark and Nurse Joy soon emerged with Chansey holding a tray with six Poké Balls in the slots on it. The nurse came to the front desk as Leaf stood up and went over to her.

"Your Pokémon are perfectly healed and fine," she told the girl in a cheerful voice.

"Were there any problems?" Leaf asked, looking down at her Poké Balls, her concern for each of her Pokémon friends being evident on her face.

Nurse Joy shook her head. "No. The only issue was that they were tired from all the fighting that they had been forced to do recently."

The girl was relieved as she took each of her Poké Balls and opened them up, letting out each of her Pokémon. Each Pokémon landed on the ground with a thud and turned to look over at Leaf, giving her reassuring cries that they were fine. The girl grinned as each Pokémon gave their distinctive cry. Nurse Joy looked on in both confusion as well as trepidation. Not many Trainers kept their Pokémon outside of their Poké Balls, particularly the larger ones like Tyranitar, Garchomp, or even the final evolutions of Starter Pokémon such as Venusaur. Once they were ready, they headed towards the exit.

Just as they were about to leave, though, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a news report flash across the television screen. Turning to look at it, she saw that the title of the headline was: _SPECIAL REPORT: DEVASTATION OF WESTERN EUROPE_! Below the headline was: _Kalos Completely Destroyed by Energy Blast. Surrounding Countries Suffer Catastrophic Damage_.

Leaf's eyes went wide at the headline as the anchor began to speak. "This is Gabby, reporting live from Hoenn, where the news of the mysterious tree was just reported as having been destroyed in a battle by the Grand Festival Champion, May, has just been overshadowed by the reports of the damage inflicted to western Europe. So far, the Kalos Region and France have been completely destroyed, with the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland having suffered catastrophic damage in terms of lives lost. The reports are still coming in, but the death toll is currently estimated to be at over one hundred million, with reports still coming in. So far, there are no reports of survivors in Kalos, which is believed to be the epicenter of the blast."

Leaf did not listen as the reporter went into further detail as to what was known about the destruction in Kalos, she merely stood there, her mouth agape, the girl being in total shock over the destruction of Kalos. But to her, the loss of Kalos, while not trivial, was second to the personal pain she was now feeling. Her twin brother had been in Kalos when she had been captured and she knew that he had not left since the last day. If the reports of there being no survivors was true, then her brother was now dead. She slumped forward, barely holding back tears. While she had been enraged at her betrayal by her brother, she had not wished him death or the loss of his friends. Her Pokémon friends soon approached her as they noticed that she had stopped and was completely silent. Tyranitar was the first to ask the girl what was wrong.

She turned to the large Pokémon, barely holding back her tears, as she pointed towards the television headline. The Pokémon looked up at the television and saw the headline, but since they could not read human writing, they did not know what it said. They were quickly filled in, though, by the anchor speaking about the destruction of Kalos, as well as the damage inflicted on other countries by whatever had destroyed Kalos and France.

As they continued to listen to the news, though, something seemed to click in her mind and the tears that were beginning to form in her eye suddenly vanished, her shock and sadness, being replaced by confusion. "Why didn't I sense anything?" she muttered to herself.

Tyranitar inclined his head as he looked over at Leaf, along with Venusaur, having overheard her musing. They then asked a question in their language that she took as wondering what she had meant by her statement. She did not know that she had muttered audibly enough to hear her.

She looked over at Tyranitar and Venusaur and saw their quizzical expressions and answered, "I was wondering why I didn't feel anything, either during our battle with the Mortality Tree, or after. I share a twin bond with my brother, even if he can no longer sense it. If he were dead, I would know."

Tyranitar then issued another series of grunts, which Leaf used her Pokédex to translate as, [So what does that mean?]

"It means that Ash may still be alive," she eventually answered, her voice rising as renewed hope entering her heart. "Come on," she directed. "We've gotta find a way to get to Kalos. If he's still alive, then we need to find him!"

Leaf's Pokémon turned and glanced at one another, not knowing what she meant and why she seemed to be so relieved if Kalos was completely destroyed. After all, searching for her brother would be like looking for a needle in a haystack the size of a country. Still, since her brother was her twin, she may have gotten a better idea of where he would be once they arrived in Kalos, or rather, its ruins. Either way, the group followed her outside the Pokémon Center as she left in a hurry, renewed hope entering her heart as she went to search for a plane, shuttle, or ship that would take her to Kalos. If her brother had somehow managed to survive the destruction of Kalos, she needed to get to him and bring him home at all costs.

Meanwhile, over in the wasteland that used to be Kalos, a large, dark purple portal had opened a few dozen feet off the ground. After a second, a large skiff appeared from the portal. The skiff was purple and looked to be flat, though there was a raised section in the rear that looked to contain a small control room, possibly to provide some protection for the pilot and/or a couple crew or passengers if they were forced into a dangerous environment. This skiff, however, only had one crew member, the pilot. The pilot, the same man that had appeared in Kalos earlier, stood at the control station as he studied the map that would hopefully lead him to any survivors of Kalos's destruction. Despite being designed primarily as a means of transport for troops and allowing for quick insertion into a battle zone, the skiff was also outfitted with a highly advanced and powerful array of sensors that could rival those of any Federation science ship. The sensors were powerful enough to identify an individual life-form and locate it from several AU away.

As the man piloted the craft through Kalos, he turned a switch that activated the radio, wanting to know what the various stations and channels were saying about the disaster. The various programs went into as much detail as they could over the destruction of Kalos, but since there were few living witnesses as to the destruction, only a few that were fortunate enough to be just beyond the outer edges of the destruction wave, there was little insight that could be given. Anyone who had known of Lysandre's involvement in Kalos's destruction was now dead since they had been in Kalos, and likely located at the epicenter of the explosion. So far, reports indicated that at least one hundred million people were dead, with more reports coming in.

The man gave a sigh. While this was not the worst-case scenario that he had dreaded, it was pretty bad. He had known that something was coming, but he had not known what. What made matters worse, for him, was that the blast was centered in the Kalos Region, a place that he had visited two years ago, along with four Chosen Heroes, and a fifth and sixth one having come not too long after his visit. If only he had kept a closer eye on Kalos. He had had a feeling that something was going on in Kalos, but had not wanted his eye to be drawn to a single country, one that was far from the largest, both in terms of surface area as well as population, at the exclusion of all others. Perhaps that was what had allowed whoever had initiated the attack on Kalos to be successful.

As he listened to the radio stations, he also caught mention of the damage being inflicted by trees referred to as "Mortality Trees". He quickly silenced the other stations, he had heard all that he needed to from them, and focused his attention on the stations that were mentioning the Mortality Trees. As he listened, he was quickly filled in on what had happened and learned why the Chosen Heroes that he had talked to were not in Kalos at the time. They were in Kanto and possibly other Pokémon World regions dealing with the Mortality Trees. He learned that the Mortality Trees had drained the life energy of the area around them, making those areas barren. He also listened to the stations as they gave casualty reports. His heart almost sank when he learned that among the dead were Kris, Lyra, Steven Stone, Brendan, and Lucas. All, save for Steven Stone, had also been Chosen Heroes and powerful Pokémon Trainers in their own right.

Even worse was that there had been a great deal of damage done to noticeable areas of the Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh Regions. The casualty reports for each of the affected regions were now numbering in the thousands for all affected regions save for Unova and Kanto, and even they did not emerge unscathed as Alder and Iris were reported to be among the dead in Unova, and Gary Oak was reported as a fatality in Kanto. That would almost certainly force the remaining Chosen Heroes: Ethan, May, Dawn, Hilbert, and Hilda to remain in their regions in order to protect them. Chances were that Leaf would also be staying in Kanto. The man gave another sigh. A lot more damage had been done than he had anticipated. And it would be a lot more difficult to recruit Chosen Heroes in order to try to undo the disaster that had occurred here, assuming it was even possible to begin with.

Once he was finished his musing and listening to the various reports on the radio, he turned down the volume and pushed another button, activating the scanners on the skiff. He had locked in the life signatures of several Chosen Heroes into the computer and he was eager to get started trying to recruit someone to assist him. Much to his surprise, a ping sounded, followed by several beeps, indicating that a Chosen Hero was not that far away. When he checked the scan, he found that the signal that was being recorded was coming from Kalos. Not only that, but it was coming from Geosenge Town, which all scans indicated was ground zero of the blast that destroyed France, and a good portion of several other nations with it.

"Impossible," he muttered in disbelief. There was no way anyone could survive at ground zero of a blast like that. Still, if someone had, indeed, somehow survived the disaster, he had to reach him or her as quickly as possible. He immediately plotted a course for Geosenge Town and had the skiff rocket off into the distance. If someone, much less a Chosen Hero, had managed to survive Kalos's destruction, he had to reach him or her before it was too late.

It did not take too long for the skiff to reach Geosenge Town. As the skiff rocketed through Kalos, the man piloting the vehicle took the opportunity to survey the wasteland below. Indeed, it was as bad as he had feared. Nothing was left save for debris and burnt metal. Despite the attack from the weapon being a death wave that was likely powered by Yveltal's energy, the man could not help but wonder if the blast was, indeed, the result of an impact from a weapon similar to an orbital defense cannon. If that was the case, then there was the issue of environmental damage that Earth would suffer. Even though the radioactive fallout from such a weapon would likely be minimal to non-existent given the type of weapon used, the dust and debris that would be sent up into the atmosphere would almost certainly cause environmental issues and changes in weather patterns. It would be similar to the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs, only on a smaller level, so far.

As he flew towards Geosenge Town, he continued to stare at the scanner that was picking up the life-form. It was then that the signal began to fade. "No, don't do this," the man pleaded. "Don't you die on me!"

The signal continued to fade and he increased the throttle until the skiff was going at its maximum speed. He had to reach Geosenge Town as quickly as possible before the signal faded entirely.

Eventually, the skiff arrived at Geosenge Town, or the burnt out center of the crater that had once been the town. He checked his scanner and found that the signal still seemed to be fluctuating. Good, at least the survivor was not dead yet. He then scanned the rest of the map to see just where in the town the signal was coming from. He quickly found that it looked to be coming from the northwest portion of the town.

Directing the skiff into that direction he scanned the area to see if he could spot the survivor. While he could not spot the survivor where the scanners said the signal was coming from, he scanned the area and soon saw what looked to be a small hole that led underground near the stone and metal ruins. It was most certainly too small to fit a vehicle. Still, it looked as if a person could enter without too much difficulty.

Not wanting to disturb the surrounding area and risk any shifting ground becoming hazardous to the survivor, the man set down the skiff about a hundred meters away from the hole's entrance. Dust was thrown up from the ground as the repulsors pushed against the ground as the skiff descended, landing pads extending from the skiff's bottom. After a few seconds, the vehicle touched down, the cabin vibrating from the impact. Once the skiff had landed, the man powered it down, but kept it in standby mode so that it could power up and take off at a moment's notice.

As soon as he had set the skiff to standby mode, he went over to the sack sitting against the wall picked it up, and slung it over his shoulder. Even if worst came to worst and the signal faded completely and whoever was in there were truly dead, he would still have a means by which to revive them. Before leaving the skiff, he took a single rectangular hand-held scanner about the size of a cellular phone and activated its map feature. A map soon appeared on the screen, with a single dot representing the life signal of the survivor. He then moved to each side to make certain that the scanner was functioning properly and once he was sure that everything was ready, he took a single side arm blaster and a Beam Sword hilt on the off chance of meeting any form of resistance. Before departing the skiff, he went over to the control panel and activated the skiff's camouflage mode, causing it to appear as a rocky structure, rather than the metallic that it was. Once he was ready, he departed the skiff and proceeded to make his way over to the hole.

Walking to the hole, the man saw a stairwell that led to an underground corridor. Following the stairwell and corridor, he eventually came to a cocoon-like structure. He took out his scanner and saw that the signal was coming from inside the cocoon. He then put the scanner away and took out his Beam Sword hilt and ignited the blade, a snap hiss sounding and a rainbow-colored blade erupting from the hilt. He then thrust the blade into the cocoon to try to cut an opening for himself. He sliced with his Beam Sword, cutting a large furrow into the cocoon. Once he had carved a large enough opening, he pulled back some of the seams, feeling the soft silk-like structure of the cocoon. As he pulled back the cocoon's covering, he revealed the petrified forms of a human boy and girl approximately fourteen years of age. The boy's mouth covered the girl's as the two shared in one final kiss before their tragic end. The petrified form of a Pikachu also stood with the boy and the girl. The man gave a sigh as he looked at the boy and girl and recognized their faces as belonging to Ash Ketchum and Serena Gabena, both of who were Chosen Heroes. There were two Poké Balls lying on the ground as well, but the man did not care about them at the moment. His only focus was on the petrified Pokémon and humans.

"Oh, Ash," he sighed, looking down at the boy, holding back tears. "I'm so sorry I failed you."

He then looked over at Serena and Pikachu and gave another sigh. Truly he had failed them. He had warned Leaf, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Captain Falcon of a threat but had not had any details as to what the threat really was so he could not direct them as to where they should go. Now, that lack of knowledge had cost the lives of over one hundred million people and had likely caused catastrophic environmental damage to Europe and likely the entire eastern hemisphere.

He then took out his scanner and activated it. He looked down in sadness when the scanner indicated that there were no signs of life. Still, he was not about to give up hope. He stared at the petrified humans and scanned them, individually, with his scanner. They showed no signs of life. However, his scans did indicate that there were three souls still present, indicating that there was still hope. He looked down at the Poké Balls next to the teens and scanned them, but found no life or soul readings from them. He sighed, but having the humans and the Pikachu being capable of revival was better than nothing.

The man then took off his sack and placed it on the ground. Opening it, he fished inside. Most of the items in the sack were healing items of some sort, such as a large tomato with an M on it, a glass container that held a red heart, or weapons like a gray Motion-Sensor Bomb or a Gooey Bomb. However, there were two items in the sack that were different. They were brooches that had a face on them that the man would not have recognized until he had entered the service of his master. These brooches had once had the ability to turn a trophy of Smash World into a fighter. Since that incident where its ability was revealed so many years ago, though, it had also been revealed that the brooch had the ability to revive an actual person that had died of anything other than old age. He then took a look at the petrified heroes and gave a soft sigh. He only had two brooches and there were three Chosen Heroes that were dead. The brooches were only one-time use items so he could only save two of the heroes. He made one last look through is sack, but he found that there were no more brooches, and the fairies in bottles would be unable to revive Ash and his friends since they had been dead for so long.

To help him decide whom to save, he pulled out a datapad and activated it. It flashed on and a file appeared. Opening the file, he saw the pictures of numerous Chosen Heroes, among them Ash, Serena, and Pikachu. Clicking on the file for Serena, he found that she was a Pokémon Performer and idol. He then checked to see if she had any experience batting, for some Pokémon performers and idols still had battle experience, case and point being the former Kalos Queen, Aria. Seeing that the files indicated that Serena had little to no battle experience, he sighed and closed the file, proceeding to click on Ash's file next. Here, it was shown that Ash had a great deal of battling experience, but his intelligence fluctuated from day to day, sometimes even from hour to hour. At his smartest, he was a match for a Champion. At his most foolish, a green newbie could defeat him and his Pikachu. Even worse was that it was this fluctuating intelligence that had kept him from winning numerous Leagues, forcing him to rely on his Orange League and Battle Frontier victories to enter the Battle Maison Tournament. If Ash were on his game, then perhaps he would be able to find a way to save everyone. If he wasn't, though, then he, his friends, and possibly the world, were doomed. Still, it was better than having to rely on an idol with little to no actual battle experience.

A complicating matter, however, was the fact that Ash had been kissing Serena when they died. As such, it was clear that he had feelings for her and was possibly in love with her, despite his youth and previous obliviousness to romance. The man gave a wistful chuckle. Ash had finally found love, only to have it mercilessly stolen from him. There was also the fact that Ash had met numerous Legendary Pokémon in his previous adventures. Pragmatically, as well as emotionally, the choice to use one of the brooches on Ash was clear. Even if Ash's battle prowess were questionable, his meeting and befriending Legendary Pokémon would be essential for the upcoming mission.

And finally, there was Pikachu. It was surprising that a Pokémon was a Chosen Hero, but there he was. Checking on Pikachu's file, he saw that Pikachu was competent battler that had even managed to defeat Legendary Pokémon, as well as defeat Mega Evolved Pokémon, albeit with help, on occasion. However, like Ash, his own battling prowess fluctuated from day to day. At his strongest, he could beat Legendaries. At his worst, though, a beginner first stage starter Pokémon could beat him.

In terms of pragmatism, the decision was easy. In terms of combat abilities and talents, Pikachu was far more valuable to the man and his mission than Serena, despite his fluctuating power. The only issue would be Ash's reaction to having him be revived rather than Serena. He could only hope that since he and Serena were kissing that the brooch would somehow restore both Ash and Serena back to life. If that failed, though, he hoped that his mission to prevent the tragedy of Kalos's destruction would be enough to get him to focus on the task at hand. As such, the decision was obvious and he took out the two brooches.

He first went over to Pikachu and placed the brooch on his head. As he did so, the brooch began to glow, almost as if it was on a timer. Then, the man went over to Ash and, nestling in the brooch between him and Serena, placed the second brooch on his chest. Just as had happened with Pikachu, the brooch on Ash's chest began to glow, too, indicating that it, too, was on a timer. As the man waited for the brooches to take effect and revive the two heroes, he took out several oxygen masks so that the two would be able to breathe as he took them to the skiff once they were revived and he could take them to a hospital for further evaluation.

Back in Kanto, Leaf and her Pokémon friends were making their way out of Viridian City and headed down Route 1 towards Pallet Town. Normally, she would not have liked heading towards Pallet Town, but she knew that she had no choice if she wanted to get to Kalos and find out what happened to her brother. While she knew that many people would have told her to remain calm and wait for news of any potential survivors, she could not do so. She had not felt her brother die. If he was, somehow, still alive, then she had to help him, no matter what it took. However, she knew that that would not be easy, for in order to have a chance of getting to Kalos in a timely fashion, she would have to talk to Professor Oak.

She and Professor Oak were not on good terms, to say the least. When she was nine, she had recently escaped from Team Rocket and had found him with her mother, talking in a friendly tone, something that Leaf had taken to be more than friendly, though there was no smoking gun showing that the two were having an affair. Even worse, though, was the fact that the Bulbasaur that had helped her to escape had actually belonged to Professor Oak and when he had seen it with her, after she had been humiliated in her meeting with her mother when she had gone home to see her and her brother, Professor Oak took Bulbasaur with him, against the wishes of both her and Bulbasaur. She had gotten her revenge when she turned ten and began her Pokémon journey, "choosing" Bulbasaur and taking him from the lab. Since she had not been able to confirm that she had been from Pallet Town, since her mother had not remembered her, the professor had declared that it was theft, despite the fact that Bulbasaur had _wanted_ to go with her and had viewed her taking him as a rescue.

As if it were not bad enough that Leaf did not like Professor Oak, Venusaur did not like Professor Oak, either. While Professor Oak had treated him well as Bulbasaur, he had always had a bond with Leaf, and was one of the reasons she was able to escape Team Rocket when she was young. Such a bond forged in battle was not something that was easily broken. Despite Professor Oak's best attempts to have Bulbasaur take to other Trainers, he had rejected everyone except for Leaf. She was the only one he loved and respected and had been all too willing to go with her when she had come for him to start her journey.

And now, here they were, back in Pallet Town once more. She looked out over the town and gave a sigh. She could see her childhood house off in the distance, right next to Professor Oak's house and not too far away from the lab. She followed the road towards Professor Oak's lab, hoping that she would not have to come face to face with any acquaintances before meeting with the professor. So far, the streets looked to be deserted. Perhaps people were just finding out about what happened in Kalos, as well as in certain other locations around the Pokémon World and were simply watching the news.

When she reached the lab, she saw several Pokémon standing inside the lab's confines. These were the ape-like Infernape, turtle-like Torterra, and the large, gluttonous Snorlax. There were also thirty bull-like Tauros present charging wildly throughout the lab that Leaf could see. She looked over at Venusaur, who was scowling as they approached, though both Tyranitar and Garchomp looked intrigued by the lab and its layout. Tyranitar even went up to Leaf and grunted a question that she had to use her Pokédex to translate.

"No, Tee-Tar, we're not staying here long enough for you to take a tour of the place," she told him, prompting the large Pokémon to frown.

Leaf and her team followed the sidewalk until she reached the lab's main house. Once she reached the door, she rapped on it a few times, waiting for an answer. After a few moments of no answer, she knocked on the door again. After a few more moments, the door eventually opened. There in the doorway stood a man of about sixty years of age with dark gray hair dressed in a white lab coat. She scowled as she saw the professor standing in the doorway, looking down at her, glaring, immediately recognizing who it was that had knocked on his door.

"So, you've finally returned," Professor Oak said, trying to suppress a scowl. It was clear that there was no love lost between the two. "May I ask why you have come?"

"My brother is in the Kalos Region. I know of the damage inflicted to Kalos, but I know that he's still alive. I need your help to get there and find him. You're a researcher. I'm sure that you could get a plane or something that could take us to Kalos."

"Leaf, Kalos was completely destroyed in the explosion," Professor Oak answered. "There is no one left to save."

"I have a twin bond with him. If he was dead, I would know," the girl insisted.

"No one's going near Kalos, or western Europe, for that matter," Professor Oak reiterated. "It's a crater. The environmental damage inflicted by that blast is catastrophic. Even if by some miracle, someone survived that blast, no one would live long in that region, anyway."

"That's why I have to go," Leaf explained.

"Look, we may have our differences, but I feel your pain. I lost my grandson to that Mortality Tree in Viridian Forest."

"I'm sorry," Leaf said, looking glumly at the ground. She had not particularly liked Gary, but she had not wished ill of him.

"I am too," Professor Oak answered. "As much as I want him back, some things are just impossible. Travel to Western Europe has been cut off for the time being. Even if I could get a plane quickly, I would not be able to take you to Kalos."

Leaf could only give a huff. She was not surprised that Kalos was off limits, but it still hurt. "Well then, I won't bother you any further," she said. With that, she turned and walked down the sidewalk and out of the lab's grounds.

As she walked away from the lab, she fumed at how helpless she felt. Was there nothing she could do for her brother? She considered her options. If she had had a Pokémon friend that knew Teleport, she may have been able to get it to teleport her back to Kalos. As it was, though, none of her Pokémon friends knew the move. All she could do was wait. Still, there had to be something that she could do. The damage done was so great and if her brother was alive, she had to help him, no matter what. That was when she remembered Captain Falcon. Perhaps he was still relatively close by. And even if he was not, he still had a ship in the Falcon Flyer that could reach her quickly.

She immediately activated her Pokétch and dialed the code for the F-Zero racer. After a second, the image of Captain Falcon appeared in holographic form.

"Captain Falcon, are you still close to Viridian City?" she began.

"Yeah," the F-Zero racer answered. "I was just spreading the word about the Mortality Trees to United Earth's government. They're already on it and are recruiting Pokémon who know Toxic to assist them in taking any trees down. The crisis should be over shortly."

"Good, can you do me a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Could you pick me up in the Falcon Flyer? I'm just outside Professor Oak's Pokémon Lab in Pallet Town, a town just south of Viridian City."

"Okay," Captain Falcon answered with a note of questioning. "Is something wrong?"

Leaf nodded. "Very likely," she answered. "I need you to take me to Kalos at best speed."

"Sure thing," Captain Falcon answered. "I'll be right over."

Then, all Leaf could do was wait for the F-Zero racer to arrive and pick her up to take her to Kalos. She only hoped that she was not too late.

Meanwhile, back in Kalos, the mysterious man waited by Ash and Pikachu for the brooches to activate and revive the two Chosen Heroes. It was taking longer than he had anticipated and he was beginning to worry that perhaps, the brooches would not be able to revive the two. If that happened, then all hope would be lost.

Eventually, the glow on the brooch that was on Pikachu began to glow more brightly, catching the attention of the man. The brooch began to turn and then eventually, energy erupted from the brooch and practically engulfed Pikachu in a golden glow that vanished almost an instant later. There, standing in front of the man was Pikachu, fully restored and rejuvenated.

As soon as Pikachu was revived, the electric mouse moved his head back and forth, glancing at his surroundings and wondering what had happened. The last thing he had remembered was the blast wave from the Ultimate Weapon crashing towards him. He caught sight the mysterious man looking over at the petrified form of Ash and gave a cry of shock and horror as he saw Ash kissing the petrified form of Serena. He ran over to Ash, blinking back tears as he saw the petrified forms of his friends.

As he looked over at the mysterious man once more, he saw a hopeful look in his eyes and he then noticed the brooch on Ash's chest. Feeling something strange on his head, he reached up to it and felt the brooch on it. He then pulled at the brooch and it came off with relative ease. He then rushed over to Ash, crying, "Pikapi!" He desperately hoped that the worst had not happened and that Ash was not dead, but it did not look good. Tears began to form in the electric mouse's eyes.

"Don't worry, Pikachu," the man said, turning back to the Pokémon. "The brooch on Ash is the same type of brooch that revived you. If you were revived, then Ash should also be revived shortly, too, hopefully along with Serena," he added quietly.

Sure enough, just as he was saying those words, the brooch on Ash's chest began to glow more brightly and soon, light flooded through Ash's body. For a brief instant, he was engulfed in a golden glow. The glow then died and in the place of a petrified Ash was a fully healed and rejuvenated Ash. As soon as he was revived, the boy disengaged his mouth from Serena's and looked around, blinking, confused at the scene before him since the last thing he remembered was the blast wave from the Ultimate Weapon rushing towards him. The man looked over at Serena and saw that she was still petrified, though, prompting him to frown.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu cried in relief and joy as he ran over to Ash and jumped into his arms. The boy instinctively caught him.

"Pikachu!" Ash called in response as he caught the electric mouse and hugged him. As he was hugging Pikachu, he looked down and saw the petrified form of Serena lying on the floor. "Oh no, Serena!" he cried.

Pikachu immediately jumped out of Ash's arms and went over to the fallen Serena. The mark of Serena's wound was still on her body, which gave Ash no comfort at all. "No, don't be dead," Ash pleaded as he stared down at the girl, scared to touch her for fear that she would crumble to dust if he did so. Pikachu, however, had no issue with trying to revive the girl with a Thunderbolt. The electricity arced across her body but did nothing to her.

"Wait!" Ash cried before he saw that the bolt of lightning did nothing to the structural integrity of Serena's body. Still, it also did nothing to revive the petrified girl. Pikachu tried shocking her again and again, but there was no response. Ash then looked down at his chest and saw the brooch on his chest, something that he had not remembered wearing before. He took it off and then looked at it, wondering if that was what had revived him. He then figured that the brooch was the reason he was revived and quickly put it on Serena. Still, nothing happened.

"If it still has enough energy to revive her, it'll take some time to do so," he heard a man's voice crackle through a microphone. He thought that he could hear a melancholy tone in the man's statement. "But I wouldn't get my hopes too high. I was kind of expecting it to revive her, too, if it could revive both of you since you two were kissing when I revived you."

Ash looked up and he saw the mysterious man dressed in a black bodysuit with a black helmet with an orange faceplate that obscured his entire face. "If this thing worked on me and Pikachu, could it work on Serena?" the boy asked.

"Possibly," the man answered. "I only had two brooches, though, and I used them to revive you and Pikachu. Perhaps two of them could work in reviving Serena if they still have some energy inside," he suggested

Ash immediately went over to the discarded brooch by Pikachu and put it on her chest. As he did so, the brooches began to glow brightly and soon, a golden glow engulfed Serena. Color began to return to her body but she still lay on the ground, her eyes frozen open with the girl not moving, the signs of tears falling from her eyes still present. Ash put two fingers to her neck to try to feel for her pulse. He felt nothing. Tears began to well up in his eyes as Pikachu immediately used a weak Thunderbolt to try to jumpstart Serena's heart. Her body convulsed as Pikachu's lightning struck it but her heart did not start.

"Chu!" Pikachu cried as he fired another Thunderbolt on Serena. Again, nothing happened. After one more failed attempt to restart her heart, Pikachu sighed and backed away, tears forming in his eyes, knowing just how hard Ash would take Serena's death.

Ash looked down at the ground, tears forming in his eyes as he realized that Serena was gone and that there looked to be no way to revive her since the brooches had expended all of their energy in order to revive him and Pikachu. He looked over at the man one more time. "Is there any other way to revive her?" Ash asked, praying that there was some way for Serena to be revived.

The man shook his head. "The brooches are the only known items that could revive someone after they had been dead for as long as she had been. Still, considering that the brooches managed to turn Serena's body back to normal, there may still be hope."

He then fished into his backpack and produced a bottle with a cork on its opening with a pink light with small translucent wings inside. Ash looked at him and asked, "What's that?"

"This is a bottled fairy," the man answered. "It comes from the nation of Hyrule on the world of Hylia. This fairy can revive someone who has recently died of a fatal wound or poisoning."

"Will it work on Serena?" Ash asked hopefully.

"There's only one way to find out," the man answered.

He then went over to Serena's body and knelt down next to her. He then placed the bottle near her head and pulled off the cork letting out the fairy. The pink fairy emerged from the bottle and began to orbit Serena's body, pink sparkles falling off of the fairy as it attempted to revive the deceased girl. The fairy orbited her body several times before vanishing. Ash then looked down at Serena but could see no change, her eyes still open, showing her pain and sadness in death. He then took out his scanner and scanned Serena, the scan coming back negative for life or soul readings. The man sighed.

"It didn't work."

"No!" Ash cried, unable to contain his tears. "It can't be! Serena can't be dead! There has to be something more we can do!"

"I'm sorry, but there isn't," the man answered. "The brooches and fairies are the only items I have that can revive the dead.

"Could you get more?" Ash asked.

"Doubtful," the man answered. "I barely managed to get these two brooches and the fairy as it was. These brooches are in short supply and were modified from their original design. They were designed to revive fallen Super Smash Brothers in the case that one of them died in battle. And I brought the fairy to give to Leaf or any of the other Chosen Heroes should they perish in a later battle."

"Then why?" Ash demanded. "Why didn't you revive Serena? Why revive me? Why revive a failure?"

"Because you are a Chosen Hero who can battle," the man answered plainly, ignoring Ash's statement about himself being a failure. "If push comes to shove, and it likely will with what has happened here in Europe, you and the surviving Chosen Heroes on Earth will need to battle Cyrus, formerly of Team Galactic, if he makes a move. You have a team ready for battle and the skills to use them effectively if need be. Serena didn't."

"But, she's only on this journey because of me," Ash lamented. "If she had never met me, who knows what may have happened with her?"

"But you _did_ meet her," the man told him in a sympathetic tone. "The best thing you can do now is to honor her memory and prepare for battle. Find the other Chosen Heroes, particularly Leaf, who should be in Kanto at the moment. Together, you can fight off Cyrus and hopefully save the world, and the universe."

"Leaf?" he gasped. He then looked down at the ground wistfully again. "She's alive?" he asked hopefully.

"I hope so," the man answered. "Why?"

"Because everything that happened here is my fault."

"What do you mean?"

"Leaf had come to us to identify the team, later revealed to be Team Flare, that had attempted to kill her," Ash explained. "Later on, according to Malva and Lysandre, Team Flare agents disguised themselves as Sina and Dexio and told us that Leaf was a criminal."

"No," the man told shaking his head. "Leaf is no criminal. The only thing that was almost considered a crime by some was her rescue of Bulbasaur, now Venusaur, from Professor Oak's ranch at the beginning of her journey. And Bulbasaur voluntarily joined Leaf's team, just as all of her Pokémon have."

Ash looked down at the ground again, barely blinking back tears. "It's all my fault," he muttered. "I'm such an idiot. If I had not betrayed Leaf to Team Rocket, then maybe she would have been able to stop Lysandre before he fired the Ultimate Weapon. He was certainly worried about her ability to do so."

"There is no time for second guessing. Right now, you have to find Leaf. There's no way Cyrus won't try to take advantage of the situation. You'll have to be ready for him when he comes. Besides, there may still be hope of averting this disaster."

Ash then rose and a stern look crossed his face. "Okay, I'll do it," he said, steeling himself for what was to come.

"Pika," Pikachu echoed, clenching his fingers into fists.

The two of them then turned around and saw that the man had vanished, likely having retreated while he was rising. Soon, Ash began to hear a strange sound off in the distance. He then looked down at his Poké Balls and hoped that his Pokémon had been inside so that they may have survived the firing of the Ultimate Weapon. When he picked one up and opened it, though, he found that it was empty and non-functional. He sighed. The rest of his Pokémon team must have been fatalities in the destruction of Kalos as well.

Pikachu looked off into the distance as he heard the sound as well. "Pi-ka?" he asked Ash, pointing towards the object in the distance.

Ash strained to look in the distance and make out the object. After a moment, he caught sight of a faint object in the distance. The object soon grew in size, as did the sound and it was obvious that the object was making the sound. Ash and Pikachu were soon able to make out the object. It was a ship of some sort. It was relatively long and thin and it was painted blue and gold. For a moment, Ash thought that he remembered the ship from somewhere before but he could not place where it was from. In addition, he also had a strange feeling come over him, as if whoever was on that ship was familiar to him. Still, both he and Pikachu prepared for the worst as the ship decelerated as it approached them, but also hoped for the best and that the ship was here to rescue them.

Onboard the Falcon Flyer, Leaf looked at a small screen in the passenger seat of the ship. Captain Falcon had his Blue Falcon F-Zero machine stored in the cargo section in the back of the ship. The image of Ash and Pikachu appeared on the small screen at Leaf's console.

"That's them," she cried in excitement as she saw them alive and seemingly unharmed. "Take us down."

Captain Falcon looked at the screen and his eyes went wide with shock as he saw the human and his Pokémon friend standing in the middle of the wasteland. He could not believe it. _How could they have survived so close to ground zero of the explosion_ , he wondered. It was truly a miracle. He then turned back to Leaf. "You sure about this?" he asked skeptically. "If I remember correctly, you said that the last time you saw them, they fried you and allowed you to be captured by Team Rocket."

"And had I not been captured, I would not have gotten back to Kanto soon enough to stop that Mortality Tree before its roots reached Viridian City," Leaf countered. Captain Falcon looked at her quizzically as she continued, "Besides, given the casualty reports, had you, DK, and Diddy Kong faced that tree alone, you probably would have died."

The F-Zero racer and bounty hunter could not argue that point. Leaf had done most of the heavy lifting in the battle against the Mortality Tree. When he caught sight of the boy and the rodent-like Pokémon off in the distance, he decelerated the ship identified a piece of land not too far away from the two. Before landing, he activated his ship's scanners to get a reading on the atmosphere. While the fact that Ash and Pikachu were standing outside indicated that the atmosphere was not immediately toxic, he did not want to take any chances. The scans soon came back negative. The atmosphere was breathable, but he did detect some anomalous energy readings not too far away.

"The atmosphere's safe, but I'd recommend you going out in something other than a skirt and tank top," the F-Zero racer advised. "I'm picking up some anomalous energy readings not too far away, and that place still doesn't seem very hospitable."

Leaf nodded and went into a back room to put on a flak jacket and some longer pants. She did not want to be caught unawares by any potential dangers. Once she came back out, she was dressed in a set of black jeans with a black long sleeved shirt with flak jacket on top of it. She also held a helmet in her arms. Captain Falcon looked at Leaf and gave a smile. She was ready for anything.

"Any change in the readings?" she asked.

The F-Zero racer shook his head. "No changes to report. Still, I'd like to get them onboard and get out of here as quickly as possible."

"Yeah, me too," Leaf agreed.

Captain Falcon then went through the landing procedures for the Falcon Flyer. The ship hovered over its landing area for a second before descending at a steady pace, the thrust of the repulsors throwing up dust and debris as the ship came in for a landing. The landing pads soon extended from the ship's ventral section and the ship touched down on the ground, the cabin shaking slightly as the ship touched down, letting the occupants know that the ship had touched down.

Once the ship had touched down, the side hatch opened and a boarding ramp extended down to the ground. Before rushing out of the ship, Leaf took a Poké Ball and opened it, Starmie emerging from the ball. "Starmie, scan the surroundings for any strange energy readings. Check to make sure it's all clear."

Starmie nodded and performed a scan, its core glowing as it performed the scan. Captain Falcon did not know why Leaf was having Starmie scan the surroundings for any strange energy readings at first, but soon figured that if there were any psychics still alive in the area that had ill intentions, that Starmie could detect them since it, too, was psychic. After a few seconds, Starmie's core stopped glowing and it made its report back to Leaf, bobbing up and down, relaying that everything checked out and that, other than the energy readings that Captain Falcon had already picked up, there were no other anomalous energy signatures in the area. With that, Leaf rushed down the boarding ramp and set foot into Kalos once more.

Outside the ship, Ash stood at a distance as he looked on, watching as the ship descended. The boarding hatch soon opened and a short ramp extended from the hatch. After a few seconds, a figure walked down the hatch. Both Ash and Pikachu looked off into the distance and thought that they recognized the figure, especially since they saw the starfish-like Starmie hovering behind the figure, who as she got closer, was more easily identified as female.

Pikachu's eyes then flashed as he recognized who it was that had emerged from the ship and he glanced over at Ash and cried, "Pikapi, pi-ka kachu! Pii!"

Ash narrowed his gaze on the girl but did not recognize her until she reached him. When she reached him, his eyes suddenly went wide as he finally recognized her as being Leaf. "Leaf?" he asked, barely believing what he saw. He had believed that Leaf was still in Kanto, either in the custody of those who had wanted her captured, or dead. "You're alive!"

Leaf nodded. "Of course I am," she chided. "It'll take more than some Rockets to finish me off."

Ash then looked at the ground glumly, not able to meet eyes with her. "Don't worry about it," she told him kindly, softly gripping his shoulders. "I took care of them." She then paused. "Now, all that's left is to get you out of here and back home."

"Hold on," Ash said, backing away a bit. "There's something I have to do first."

He then looked over at Serena, lying on the ground not too far away, along with Ash's other Poké Balls. Leaf then looked over at Starmie and told it, "Scan Serena and the Poké Balls to see if any of them are still alive. While you do so, pray for a miracle," she added quietly.

Starmie did as commanded and scanned Serena and the other Poké Balls on the ground, praying that the girl and any Pokémon that may have been in those Poké Balls were still alive, or at least salvageable. Sadly, the Water/Psychic-type did not sense any life coming from the girl or the Poké Balls and it shook itself in the negative, prompting her to look glumly at the ground.

Meanwhile, Ash went to work burying Serena and the Poké Balls, placing small markers next to them to identify them, both him and Pikachu blinking back tears as they placed the markers next to the graves. Leaf watched from a distance, barely able to hold back tears, herself, feeling Ash's sadness as if it were her own. She then let out a sigh. Now more than ever, she hated Team Rocket for taking her away from Ash and the others, preventing her from being able to assist them against Lysandre.

Once Ash was finished burying Serena and the Poké Balls, he rejoined Leaf. Before heading back to the Falcon Flyer, though, he turned back and took one last look at the line of graves. He had also created some markers for Clemont, Bonnie, Meyer, and Professor Sycamore. As he looked back at the markers, he looked down at the ground again, tears falling from his eyes. Leaf went over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder, giving him a wistful smile, showing that she felt his pain, which she did, more than he could have imagined. After a while, the two of them turned around and headed back to the Falcon Flyer. They then boarded the ship and the boarding ramp retracted and the hatch closed. Once Ash, Pikachu, and Leaf were onboard, the Falcon Flyer rose into the air and then rocketed off towards Kanto.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19:

Ash sat in silence at the back of the Falcon Flyer as Captain Falcon piloted the ship back towards Kanto. Leaf had let out her Pokémon and they were discussing the recent events among themselves. Tyranitar looked back at Ash and scowled, feeling that what had happened was partly his fault, something that Ash would not deny. The others did their best to calm Tyranitar down, though even Venusaur did not necessarily disagree with his friend and comrade's assessment of the events.

While sitting in the back, Ash went to a computer and activated it. There, he learned the true extent of the damage inflicted by the Ultimate Weapon. More than just France had been destroyed. Most of Europe had been completely destroyed by the blast, with near universal fatalities in Western Europe with significant casualties in the rest of the continent, and well into Africa and even as far north as Greenland. Not only that, but there were also reports of large numbers of local casualties in regions such as Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh due to some things called Mortality Trees. He had read that legendary Pokémon Trainers Kris, Lyra, Brendan, Steven, Lucas, Alder, and Iris were casualties to the Mortality Trees, with trees in Russia, America, and South America claiming many more lives before they had been dealt with by both Pokémon Trainers and an ape and monkey that had vials of poison that almost certainly came from Toxic. He had not heard of Brendan, Kris, or Lucas, but he had met Lyra, Steven, and Alder, with Iris having been a previous friend and traveling companion.

Ash could only sigh as he read the reports and watched the news on the screen. The death toll had increased to over one billion, with reports still coming in. One billion, he thought in utter disbelief. This calamity was the worst disaster since World War Three and the War Against the PSI Aliens. And all of this was basically done by one man. All this did was serve to make him feel worse about failing to stop Lysandre. Even though he was sure that there had been Mortality Trees in Kalos, he knew that the death toll would have been greatly reduced, if not outright negated, if he had managed to stop Lysandre and the rest of Team Flare, especially since the Mortality Trees were currently being dealt with.

He turned away from the computer and sighed again. He still could not stop blaming himself for the failure. If only he had realized Lysandre's plans earlier. If only he had more forcefully stopped Lysandre several months ago, things would be different. If only he had not helped those "international police agents", now revealed to be Team Rocket, capture Leaf, this could all have been avoided, for he knew that Leaf would have been able to stop Lysandre. As it was, though, he had to live with what had happened, and the consequences of those failures.

Back in the front of the ship, Leaf could sense Ash's sadness and guilt over what had happened and rose from her seat, heading to the back of the ship as her Pokémon friends remained in the front of the ship. When she reached him, she could tell that he was in a dour mood.

"Hi Ash," the girl said in a cheerful tone, trying to lighten the situation. "I'm just here to check up on you and make sure everything is okay."

"Thanks," Ash replied in a glum tone, the girl's attempt to cheer him up failing. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," Leaf replied. A gloomy expression then crossed her face and she added, "You look like you're about to cry."

"I just lost my best friend and traveling companions from Kalos," Ash answered, blinking back tears. "And not only that, but a lot of other people lost loved ones, too, all because of me."

He looked back at the computer monitor, which was now showing news broadcasts about the damage inflicted on Europe from the Ultimate Weapon. Reports indicated that there were now one-point-two billion confirmed dead from the blast, with many more injured. Even worse was the environmental catastrophe that had been wrought upon the eastern hemisphere, the effects of which would likely spread to the rest of the planet if something were not done. The problem was that with most of Earth's budget going towards defense against constant assaults by the so-called Galactic Federation, currently under the command of Cyrus, formerly of Team Galactic, there was little that Earth, alone, could do to combat the catastrophe wrought by Lysandre. While the planet could be evacuated, many on Earth would want to at least attempt to save their homeworld.

He sighed again. "It just keeps getting worse," he lamented. "I'm such a failure!" he cried.

"No you're not!" Leaf snapped harshly. "You did everything you could to stop Lysandre. There's only one failure in all of this, and that's Lysandre!"

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu reiterated in agreement with Leaf, doing his best to try to comfort his best friend.

"Thanks, Pikachu!" Ash said half-heartedly as the electric mouse jumped into his arms. They then hugged for a moment before Ash disengaged and Pikachu jumped back down.

Leaf backed away a few feet to allow Ash and Pikachu some time alone. Behind her, she could hear Tyranitar and her other Pokémon friends arguing about something, likely their feelings towards Ash. A dark expression came across Leaf's face as she looked back at them, something that Venusaur noticed. He quickly got the other Pokémon to quiet down a bit. She then focused back on Ash, who was still beating himself up over his failure.

He was gazing down at the floor as the feelings of failure welled up inside of him once more. He should have dealt with Lysandre permanently when he had had the chance during his first trip in Kalos. He should have brought stronger Pokémon to Kalos on his return trip. He should have listened to his heart and his head and spoken up for Leaf back in Kalos and not turned her over to the disguised Team Rocket agents. This would not have happened if he had been stronger, smarter, better.

"This is all my fault Pikachu," he lamented, sighing once more and slumping forward. "I should have stopped him."

"Pika pika," Pikachu said, patting Ash on the shoulder, trying to comfort him. He was unsuccessful.

"Again, Ash, why are you saying this was your fault?" Ash heard Leaf ask from a ways away.

He turned and saw Leaf approaching him once more. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Isn't it obvious?"

Leaf shook her head. "Well, as I said before, the only failure was Lysandre. As such, my previous question still stands. Why are you beating yourself up for something that was not your fault?"

"But it _was_ my fault," Ash contested. "I was there, battling Lysandre and Team Flare! I failed to stop him!"

"But you weren't alone, were you?"

"No," Ash answered, shaking his head. "I had my friends with me, as well as Professor Sycamore and the father of two of my friends. But they're all dead now because I failed."

"And how did _you_ fail?" Leaf asked. "You had your friends there, too. Surely they were also battling against Team Flare."

Ash nodded. "Yeah, but _I_ was the one fighting Lysandre at the end."

"I see," the Leaf stated, as if understanding Ash's belief. "You believe you failed because you were the last one standing in the battle."

Ash shook his head. "And then there's what happened with you," he continued. He then took a deep breath before continuing, "You're the World Pokémon League Champion and far stronger than I was, heck, you were stronger than all of us. You could have won. You could have beaten Lysandre and stopped him. We found out from Sina and Dexio, or people that were impersonating them, that you were a criminal. I guess you know the rest." He then paused again for a moment. "If you had been fighting Lysandre, you would have beaten him." He struggled to hold back tears. "This is all my fault! You were caught because of me."

"You're wrong, Ash," Leaf declared. Ash looked over at her skeptically, wiping away his tears. "The fault does not lie with you. It lies with Lysandre and all of the cowards that were too scared to fight him."

"What do you mean?" they boy asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Lysandre wasn't exactly secretive about his goals, was he?"

Ash shook his head.

"Then more people should have been fighting against Lysandre and Team Flare," the girl concluded. "He was fighting to destroy an entire region, and much of the world. Surely more people should have heeded the call to fight him. So what happened? Where were they? Why was it that there were only five of you, and a hundred or so of them? Where were the Elite Four and the Champion?"

"Malva, a member of the Elite Four _was_ a member of Team Flare," Ash answered, grimacing.

"And the others?"

"They were killed in a Team Flare attack before the battle," Ash answered.

"So there _were_ others," Leaf stated. "It's just that Lysandre had a plan for dealing with them."

Ash nodded. "There would likely have been others had they not all died."

"And yet you still made it to Lysandre," Leaf said approvingly. "That's quite the accomplishment. You likely had to make it past this Malva, a member of the Elite Four. You are a special Trainer."

"Not special enough," Ash sighed.

"The failure to stop Lysandre rests on the shoulders of the people of Kalos, not you," the girl insisted. "You did your part. You fought!"

"But it's more than that," Ash explained. "Lysandre told me that one of my friends, Serena, had a great destiny. She was destined to defeat Team Flare. Unfortunately, he had trained a group of Malamars to turn her away from her destiny to defeat Team Flare, instead, causing her to become uncertain of her future dreams. Eventually, she became a Performer and idol. I have a feeling that the Malamars may have had something to do with that since she did not get into Poké Vision or Pokémon Showcases until after our first encounter with one of the evil Malamars. Even worse was the fact that they used her crush on me to drive her towards that goal and used my encouragement of her to go on about that dream, which was never her own, so that she would forget about her destiny and quite possibly her true dreams. Heck, for all I know, my own feelings towards her when I returned were all due to the Malamars," he added quietly.

"And did you have any idea about her destiny?" Leaf asked.

Ash shook his head again.

"So again, it is all Team Flare's fault. And despite all of Lysandre's planning, you darn near stopped him, likely preventing the Ultimate Weapon from outright wiping out all sentient life on Earth. You still saved a lot of lives."

Her statement did little to relieve Ash. Still, it was something and Ash sat back in the chair, wanting to conserve his strength for whatever came next, for he felt as if he was going to be called upon to deal with the remaining Mortality Trees. With that, Leaf also left him alone, returning to her Pokémon friends in the front of the ship as Captain Falcon guided it back to the Kanto Region of Japan.

While reclining in his seat, Ash took the opportunity to tune in to news reports about the disaster. He learned that more Mortality Trees were active in Russia, inland America, with reports now coming out of England and China as well. The one in Orre had already been destroyed by Trainers known as Wes and Michael while the trees in China, England, and Russia were being dealt with by Hilda, Hilbert, and Lance, who had dealt with trees in Unova and Johto, respectively. He sighed again. Things were looking bad. The trees were inflicting even more death on a world that had been rocked by the Ultimate Weapon. That only steeled his resolve in his mind. He had to find a way to undo the Ultimate Weapon's firing. He had met Pokémon who could send him back in time before, Pokémon like Celebi and Dialga. In fact, he had befriended both Pokémon, so if he found either of them, he felt as if they would be very willing to try to help him change the past.

The rest of the flight was not very exciting. Both Ash and Pikachu slept for most of the flight, when they were not listening to news reports indicating the aftermath of the blast. As Ash slept, he kept having dreams about the battle against Lysandre. He also had a dream where it was not him battling Lysandre, but Serena. In that dream, Serena was battling Lysandre and had managed to defeat him, capture the Legendary Pokémon, as well as survive the battle when the Ultimate Weapon fired, destroying itself and Team Flare's Secret Headquarters, burying and likely killing Lysandre in the process, rather than it destroying much of Europe. Even in the dream, he had a feeling that this was how it should have gone, not what had happened when he had battled Lysandre and Team Flare.

He eventually awakened to Captain Falcon's voice calling back to him, saying, "Attention everyone, we're about to reach Viridian City in the Kanto Region of Japan. Please fasten your seatbelts. It shouldn't be too much longer now."

Ash did as directed and also helped to strap in Pikachu. After that, they simply waited for the ship to land, not bothering to look out the window at the scenery below. After a while, the ship touched down safely and the captain spoke once more. "Okay everyone, we're here."

Ash then unstrapped himself and Pikachu and they both waited for Captain Falcon to open the hatch and extend the boarding ramp. He and Pikachu were the first off of the ship, followed by Leaf and her Pokémon team, with Captain Falcon bringing up the rear. As he got off the ship, he could hear reports coming in over holographic screens all around Viridian City.

Reports were indicating that the Galactic Federation Civil War was in a lull since Lysandre's attack in Europe. There were even reports of Cyrus offering Earth Galactic Federation help for repairing the environmental damage done to the planet. Ash remembered Cyrus from his adventure in the Sinnoh Region of Japan. If Cyrus were allowed back on Earth, he would be able to try to complete his own dream once more: the destruction of the current universe and the creation of a universe without spirit or emotion. While under most circumstances, Earth would never allow someone like Cyrus back on world, especially given what was known about him, he had no idea what Earth would do since Europe's destruction. Suddenly, he was really hoping that there was a way to undo Lysandre's attack, for the consequences could soon expand beyond that of just Earth.

As soon as he was finished listening to the report, he proceeded to make his way towards the Pokémon Center, hoping that Cynthia and other Champion Trainers would be there so they could discuss what had happened in Kalos and try to formulate a plan on how to undo it. When he reached the Pokémon Center, he noticed that it did not look to be very crowded from the outside. He did not think much of it, though, and proceeded to enter the Pokémon Center.

When he got inside, he saw that the Pokémon Center was deserted save for Cynthia, Donkey Kong, and Diddy Kong. "Ah good, you made it," Cynthia called from the table where she and the Kongs were sitting. "We have an important matter to discuss here."

The group quickly went over to the table, Ash, Leaf, and Captain Falcon pulling up chairs. When they arrived, Leaf took her seat with Ash and Pikachu standing next to the table. Once they arrived, Cynthia began the discussion, saying, "Okay, now that we're all here, we can begin the discussion." She then paused before continuing, "Here's where things stand at this moment. So far, the damage done to Europe is severe and most scientists are saying that if left unchecked, it could become either an extinction level event or something pretty close. To make matters worse, the Mortality Trees have claimed thousands more lives, some of who are pretty powerful Champions, meaning that there are few Champions that will be able to help us try to find some way to either repair or undo the damage."

"Is that possible?" Leaf asked.

"In theory, yes," Captain Falcon answered. "The issue is that we would have to use time travel to stop the event _before_ it happened."

"Can that be done?" Cynthia asked.

"Yes," Ash answered with certainty. "I've traveled through time before, once having gone back in time to help Arceus and undo a so-called betrayal, as well as repair a town that Arceus had been destroying."

"How did you go back in time?" Cynthia asked.

"Dialga had sent my friends and me back in time in order to try to stop the disaster that had caused Arceus to hate humanity and try to destroy it," Ash answered.

"Oh," Cynthia answered distantly.

"Why 'oh'?" Ash asked, noticing how distant Cynthia appeared. "What's the problem? Has something happened to Dialga?"

Cynthia shook her head. "No," she answered, which brought a sigh of relief to Ash. "It's just that Dialga resides in its own dimension, as do both Palkia and Giratina."

"And we don't have the means necessary to get to their dimensions," Leaf added. "At least, not without a lot of help."

"Which we may be able to get," Cynthia stated. "We may not be able to get the necessary orbs to gain access to Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, or the Distortion World, but there is another option. We can have Arceus either summon or create the Pokémon for us."

"Perhaps, but if my knowledge of Sinnoh mythology is correct, we'd need the Azure Flute to summon Arceus," Leaf stated. "Not only that, but we'd need to be on top of Spear Pillar when we did so."

"I know," Cynthia stated. "Which is why we're going to have to take a huge risk in order for this plan to work.

"What's the risk?" Ash asked.

"Letting Cyrus get close to accomplishing his goals," Cynthia answered.

"What?" Ash blurted. "Why would we let him get close to his destination?"

"Because Cyrus has the Azure Flute," Captain Falcon answered. "He attempted to use it to summon Arceus on the eve of the Galactic Federation Civil War."

"So he'll probably be coming to Spear Pillar," Leaf concluded. She grinned. "This is perfect. We let him play the Azure Flute to reveal the stairs that led to Arceus, intercept him and stop him before he can have Arceus grant him his wish, and then we talk to Arceus ourselves and hope that he'll help us."

"I'm not so sure it'll be that simple," Captain Falcon cautioned. "I've heard spies report that Cyrus may already have an Arceus or something that simulates his power. If so, then he wouldn't need the Arceus at Spear Pillar."

"If he already has an Arceus, or a power simulating that of Arceus's, then he might try to head for the Sinjoh Ruins, though," Cynthia stated.

"What are the Sinjoh Ruins?" Ash and Leaf asked in unison. As they asked the question, Captain Falcon raised an eyebrow and looked over at the two, shocked at how they had asked with the same inflections, almost as if they were two halves of a whole. He also noticed Leaf cast a sideways glance at Ash and give a knowing smile.

"They are a set of ruins north of Johto," Cynthia answered. "Usually, it requires an Arceus to access them from Johto's Ruins of Alph, but if one has an aircraft, they can access the ruins normally. Even so, though, if someone has an Arceus in their party, he or she can use said Arceus to create a Dialga, Palkia, or a Giratina on the Mystri Stage. But it would be a one time use only effect, so one would need another Arceus in order to create another member of the Creation Trio."

"But if Cyrus has an Arceus, wouldn't he already have the power to destroy the universe?" Ash asked.

"Arceus may have been said to have created the universe, but if my theory about the true origin of Pokémon is correct, that is likely not the case," Leaf stated.

"What's your theory?" Ash asked.

"That Pokémon were created by humans in the mid twenty-first century to fight in World War Three," the girl answered. "In addition, my belief is that Pokémon originated from Mew, which has some scientific evidence behind it since scientific research does indicate that there is a relation between Mew and all current known Pokémon."

"So even if we do find the Creation Trio, or even just Dialga, we may still not be able to change what happened in Kalos," Ash concluded.

"Given what you have lived through, that's doubtful," Cynthia said. "After all, a Dialga _has_ sent you back in time before."

"That's true," Ash admitted. "So even with that, if Dialga doesn't pan out, what other options are there?"

"We could try to use a Celebi to change history, but that is also problematic," Cynthia suggested skeptically.

"Why's that?" Ash asked.

"Several reasons," Cynthia answered. "First is because Celebi's appearances are unpredictable."

"Ethan once told me that it was said that there was a Celebi in the GS Ball, but since that ball was never opened and was stolen from Kurt two years ago, that was never confirmed," Leaf interjected.

"There's also the possibility that Celebi can't go back into its, or rather, _our_ , own time," Captain Falcon added. "There's a theory that time travel into the past is impossible. Whether or not that's right was up in the air until _you_ did it," he said, looking over at Ash. "But even with that, there is still the potential for alternate timelines to be created where the damage done in _this_ timeline is still present here."

"So Celebi's our final fallback plan if all other plans fail," Cynthia said. "As for right now, we should focus on trying to get a Dialga or Arceus to help us to undo the damage, especially since we have firsthand proof of Dialga's ability to send someone back into our own time to undo certain events. Now, the only issue is finding out where Cyrus will strike so we can intercept him." She then looked over at Captain Falcon. "You've had experience in space and have gone on missions for the Federation in Exile. Any ideas on how to identify where Cyrus is, and where he's likely headed, instead of taking a guess?"

"Not much of one," Captain Falcon admitted. "Cyrus doesn't generally ride in gaudy ships. He's just as likely to ride in beaten down ships that are carrying troops as he is to ride personal transports. He does that so he's harder to identify when he goes into dangerous situations."

"Either way, he's either going to be going to the Spear Pillar so he can gain access to the Hall of Origin, or he'll be going to the Sinjoh Ruins so he can use an Arceus to create a Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina," Cynthia concluded. "I don't like it, but that means that the best bet for us to catch Cyrus is for us to split up. Some of us will have to take the Sinjoh Ruins while the others will go to the Spear Pillar."

"I could take either Leaf or Ash to the Spear Pillar," Captain Falcon volunteered. "From there, I could rejoin you at the Sinjoh Ruins since that's the likeliest place for Cyrus to strike."

"It's probably best for the two of them to remain together for this assignment. As such, I'll join you in this mission."

"Why's that?" Ash asked, looking over at Leaf, who was barely suppressing a frown.

"Because you are both strong Pokémon Trainers and your bond will allow you to work well together, even in tough situations," Cynthia answered. "There is more to that, but we can discuss that once this is all over. It's that serious and would be that distracting."

Ash did not have the faintest idea what Cynthia met but Leaf was beginning to sweat. Ash noticed her begin to sweat and got the impression that Cynthia had said more than she had wanted her to and that she was worried about the effect that a certain revelation may have on him during the upcoming mission, especially if they were the ones to catch Cyrus.

"Also, there is the fact that if, indeed, Cyrus does face off against you, he may underestimate you, which Leaf, definitely, can use to her advantage and you probably can, also," Cynthia added. She then looked over at the Kongs and asked, "So, whom are you two going to go with?"

"Go with Cynthia and the others," Leaf suggested, looking over at the two Kongs. "Ash and I can handle the Spear Pillar. Besides, we have the best rapport with Arceus and Dialga, too."

Ash nodded in agreement. "Before we do anything, though, we have to figure out how we're gonna get to Spear Pillar before Cyrus gets there."

"I'll take you there," Captain Falcon volunteered. "As you know, my Falcon Flyer can travel at supersonic speeds. It'll get you to the Spear Pillar in less than half an hour from takeoff."

"Great!" Ash exclaimed. "Before we go, though, I have to make a phone call."

"Okay, it's settled then. Captain Falcon, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, myself, and the others I've already talked to will wait at the Sinjoh Ruins to see if Cyrus comes there while Ash and Leaf head to the Spear Pillar with Captain Falcon flying Ash and Leaf to Spear Pillar and then joining us." She then turned to the two teens and told them, "If Cyrus does come your way, contact us immediately. We can probably be there in less than half an hour if Captain Falcon has reached us by the time he attacks."

"Will do," Leaf answered. "And if he strikes at the Sinjoh Ruins, don't hesitate to call us, too. We'll come running."

"No," Cynthia said, shaking her head. "You two need to talk to Arceus and/or Dialga as quickly as possible. It'll be fastest if you remain on the mountain while we take down Cyrus and get the flute. Once you make contact with Arceus and/or the other members of the Creation Trio, you two have to convince them to undo the damage done in Kalos, one way or the other, but that will likely involve time travel and preventing those events from ever happening."

Leaf could see Cynthia's point and did not argue her case any further. With that, the group went to make their plans, knowing that Cyrus was likely close to reaching Earth, especially since Earth and the Galactic Federation had ceased all hostilities and Earth was welcoming Federation help with open arms. They all knew that Cyrus would take full advantage of that to make his move towards creating a new universe at the cost of the old.

During the preparations, Ash made a phone call to Professor Oak's lab and called back five of his strongest Pokémon that had been training at the lab. He knew the four that had consistently proven themselves would definitely be coming with him, but he was stumped on what his sixth Pokémon should have been, for he had a number to choose from. There were also some Pokémon that did not have as much power, but had a good attack that could possibly take advantage of some Pokémon's weakness that they were likely to encounter. In the end, he made his decision fairly quickly and had soon recalled all five Pokémon from Professor Oak's lab to fill out his roster and replace the losses from the destruction of Kalos. He also went over to a Poké Mart to pick up some potions for his Pokémon should the battles get tough, which he had a feeling they would.

Once he was ready, clipped his Poké Balls to his belt and went over to Captain Falcon, Cynthia. "Okay, is everyone set?" Cynthia asked. "Have you got everything you need for the mission?"

Both Ash and Leaf nodded in the affirmative.

"Okay then, let's get going."

With that, the group headed outside to see a large blue and gold transport spacecraft sitting on the ground outside. Captain Falcon immediately boarded the ship, with Cynthia following close behind. After Cynthia, it was Leaf, with Ash and Pikachu bringing up the rear. Once they had boarded, the hatch closed and the ship gently rose into the air. It continued its ascent until it was too high to be seen by the naked eye. Once it had reached sufficient altitude for the sonic boom to not shatter windows on the buildings below, it accelerated to supersonic speed and rocketed towards Spear Pillar on Mount Coronet in the Sinnoh Region of Japan.

During the relatively short trip, Ash thought about the recent events, something that he had had ample time to do recently. He hoped against hope that Cynthia was right and that there was, indeed, a way to undo the tragic events in Kalos and the rest of Europe. Even though his own personal experience had told him that this was not an impossible undertaking, he knew that it would be more complicated than it sounded on paper. He then looked across the small room and saw Leaf sitting on a small bench, playing with her Pokédex. He was certain that she was looking up all recorded information on the Creation Trio and Arceus. She may have also been taking a look at the information on Celebi on the off chance that Celebi would be their only option for undoing the damage inflicted by Lysandre. As he watched her looking at her studying, he could not help but think that he was looking at an event from his past. He felt as if he knew her from somewhere before, he just could not pinpoint where he knew her from or how. He also had a feeling that she was coyly holding something back from him, too, for she seemed to be familiar with him, even though he had no memory of her at all.

He looked over at Pikachu, who was studying Ash as he looked over at Leaf. "Pikapi, pi-ka kachu," he told Ash again. Ash remembered Pikachu saying those exact same utterances with the same inflections in Kalos. Once more, he wished that he had invested in a Pokémon to human language translation program as Leaf had suggested in Kalos.

His thoughts then returned to Leaf once more. He knew her from somewhere other than Kalos and to see on the news in passing. The question was where he had seen her before. He continued to stare at her, with her seemingly not noticing, but he had the suspicion that she felt his eyes on her, just that she was indifferent towards his attention towards her. Eventually, he struck up the nerve to go over to her ask her his question. He rose from his seat and walked over to her, the girl ensconced in the information on her Pokédex.

"Excuse me, Leaf, but I have to know; have we met before? You look so familiar."

Leaf immediately looked up at Ash and smiled, setting her Pokédex on the seat beside her. "Yes, you met me in Kalos, or had you forgotten?"

"I know that," Ash retorted. "It's just that now that I think about it, I can't help but think I've met you before then. I mean like, _long_ before then."

Leaf gave a hopeful smile. "Yes," she eventually answered. "We have met before our meeting in Kalos. Our first meeting was, as you said, a _long_ time ago; a very a long time ago." He could not help but notice how mischievously she had answered him. He also noticed a note of hope in her voice.

"Where have we met before, though? And when?" the boy asked.

Leaf was about to answer when Captain Falcon called back to them, "We're approaching the Spear Pillar on Mount Coronet now, kids. Get ready you two. You'll want to disembark as quickly as possible and take up your positions. If Cyrus comes, you won't want to fight him in a fair fight."

"Understood," Leaf answered.

"So, about my question, where have we met before?" Ash asked. "You look so familiar."

Leaf was silent for a few moments as she looked at Ash and considered how she should answer. There was a part of her that wanted to tell him of her relation to him, but she also knew that if she told him that, there could be consequences. There would be questions about how he could not remember her, why he would forget, why she had not searched for him earlier, even though she had. She also knew that answering would distract him during the mission, and could even cause him to not want to complete the mission if it meant that this conversation never took place and he never discovered his connection to her. On the other side, though, if she did not answer him, it could also distract him just as much. In the end, she answered, "Hold that thought, Ash. I'll tell you when this is all over."

"But this conversation may never have happened if we're successful," Ash countered. "What's so important that you don't want to tell me?"

"I _do_ want to tell you," Leaf answered. "It's just the greater good that we have to think about at the moment. We're just two people. Over a billion people right now are dead that shouldn't be. Men. Women. Children. All died because of some criminal's perverse dream and view of beauty in this world. And more are dying as we speak, and will die if Cyrus accomplishes his own goals. We have to do this for them as much as for ourselves."

Her answer was less than satisfactory for Ash on a personal level, but he could understand why she had said what she had. She was thinking not only about the two of them, but also about the lives that were lost in the tragedy. He also had a feeling that her answer was also meant to let him know just what her answer to his question would be once they had completed the mission and she would be free to tell him about their connection. In the end, Ash said, "Alright. But I want the full story when this is over."

"You'll get it," Leaf promised. "One way or the other."

After a few moments, they could feel the ship decelerate and they looked out the window to see the mountainous landscape before them. Ash quickly spotted the Spear Pillar and looked back at Leaf, saying, "It's time. Get ready."

She nodded and immediately went to check her backpack to make sure that she had everything. She counted all of her Poké Balls and checked to make sure that her Pokémon friends were in pristine condition for a fight. She knew that they did not like traveling in Poké Balls but that it was necessary in order to not weigh down the Falcon Flyer. She also made certain that she had a sufficient number of potions, Full Restores, and Max Revives with her on the chance that any of her Pokémon either fainted or were seriously wounded in a battle. Once she was ready, she slung the backpack over her shoulder and neared the boarding hatch.

Ash also checked his equipment to make sure that he was fully prepared for whatever they would face on the Spear Pillar. Once he was sure he was ready, he joined Leaf near the hatch. As they went to the hatch, Captain Falcon set the ship on autopilot and took a briefcase, heading over to the two teens. When he reached them, he opened it and they saw several Ray Guns inside, along with some Gooey Bombs, Motion-Sensor Bombs, as well as some healing items and some cloaking devices.

"You should take some of these with you," he told them. "Reports indicate that Cyrus had gained hold of a suit of armor similar to the suit worn by Sylux the bounty hunter. If that's the case, you'll need every edge you can get if he comes. Cyrus won't play fair. He'll use every trick and tactic at his disposal. Don't hesitate to do the same when facing him."

"We won't," Leaf answered, taking a couple Ray Guns, two Gooey Bombs, two Motion-Sensor Bombs, a cloaking device, and a bottled fairy. Ash eagerly took the cloaking device but was more hesitant when it came to the weaponry.

"I'm not sure that the Pokémon we need to talk to will like it if I go in armed for war. I'll stay as I am," he told Captain Falcon. While that was true, Ash was also not very well versed in the use of firearms or other types of weaponry and did not like using or want to use them. That drew a disapproving glance from Leaf. She muttered something under her breath that Ash could have sworn was, "and we're related?"

It took less than a minute for the ship to land. The moment it touched down, the cabin vibrated from the impact. The boarding hatch immediately opened, allowing the duo to disembark.

"Good luck you two," Cynthia wished.

"And to you, too," Leaf answered.

"Remember, don't hesitate to call us if Cyrus and his cronies appear. If you call, we'll come running."

"And don't hesitate to call us if Cyrus appears in the Sinjoh Ruins, either," Ash answered. The duo smiled as the two teens disembarked. Then, once Ash and Leaf were safely off the ship, the boarding hatch closed and the ship took off once more, ascending quickly into the sky, and then rocketing off to the south.

Once the ship had departed, Leaf immediately took out her Poké Balls and deployed Starmie and Chandelure, not wanting her other Pokémon to be visible if Cyrus came. She turned to the two Pokémon and told them, "You two take sentry positions out of sight. Keep your senses open for anything out of the ordinary. I don't know if Cyrus has a telepath or a Psychic-type Pokémon to jam telepathic scans, but if he does, you'll have to use your eyes to scan for anything. If you find something, don't hesitate to report it, even if it seems to be something trivial." She then turned to Starmie and said, "You also have to make certain that Cyrus isn't scanning for us, either. To that end, if you sense him, do everything you can to jam his sensors. Keep him from sensing us."

Both Pokémon nodded and then moved off into the distance to keep their senses open for any signs of Cyrus arrival. Once Leaf was ready, she put on some special sunglasses that could also detect movements and see in infrared. She had gotten the device from Lance while she was working unofficially with the Pokémon G-Men. When Ash saw her, he thought she looked stylish in them, but style and looks were the furthest thing from her mind at the moment. The mission at hand was all that mattered to her. She then placed the cloaking device on her body, immediately disappearing from sight. She had a feeling that infrared scanners would still have managed to spot her but she did not worry too much about that at the moment. Ash also put his own cloaking device on and he disappeared as well. Even though he had disappeared, Leaf was still able to see him through her sunglasses.

It was at that moment that Chandelure detected something off in the distance. Directing his telepathic senses off into the distance, he identified the new arrival as a large aircraft, and sensed that it was approaching at high speed. He instantly telepathically relayed the information back to Leaf. Leaf then thought, _Thanks Chandelure. Try to see if it's Cyrus. If it is, get back here immediately_.

She could feel the Pokémon nod and she then waited for either Starmie or Chandelure to confirm if the approaching ship was, indeed, Cyrus's or if it was merely someone out on a pleasure cruise. She doubted the latter, though, since no ships generally traveled anywhere near Mount Coronet. Still, Cyrus could have sent some lackeys as a diversion from his true destination, which would be the Sinjoh Ruins.

After a few moments, she got a clear image of a man with spiky dark blue hair wearing a gray uniform with a stylized G on it. She grimaced. It was Cyrus. He was coming. _Get back here immediately_ , she relayed to Chandelure, feeling the Pokémon's nod before it cut off contact with her. She then looked across to Ash and told him, "Cyrus is coming. Get ready."

Ash nodded and gripped one of his Poké Balls and waited for the Team Galactic Boss to arrive. He hoped that he would be able to avoid being detected entirely so he could talk to Arceus while Leaf kept Cyrus busy but he knew that there was a chance that Cyrus would be able to detect them even through their cloaking devices. He only hoped that he did not realize their plan until it was too late.

After a few minutes, the duo saw something that resembled a ship begin to approach the mountain. "Pikachu, hide behind one of the pillars and hope that they don't detect us," Ash told his best friend, figuring that it was Cyrus's ship.

Pikachu did as Ash directed and dashed behind one of the pillars. He knew that it would be useless if Cyrus had any sensors on his ship, but if the others were not detected, then he may just view Pikachu as a wild Pokémon and not think too much about his appearance on the Spear Pillar.

After a couple more moments, the group was able to make out the ship in more detail. It looked to be similar to an airship in size, not too different from the airship that the notorious Pokémon Hunter J and her crew had used. That ship had been destroyed by Uxie and Mesprit during Ash's Sinnoh journey, though. Still, Ash and Leaf grimaced. If that ship remained, then there was a very real possibility that the two of them could be caught in a full-scale battle.

The ship slowed down as it approached the mountain, the gleaming cannons easily visible to the two teens and Pikachu. Both teens grimaced. If Cyrus attempted to get to Arceus while the ship was present, then they would have to not only contend with him, but also with his ship. The ship flew what looked to be a search pattern around the peak of Mount Coronet until it found an area that was large enough for it to descend not too far away from the pillars that jutted up from the ground. The ship descended until it was only a few feet off the ground. A side hatch soon opened and a ramp extended from the hatch. A man wearing a gray uniform with a stylized G emerged from the hatch and walked down the ramp flanked by four Team Galactic Grunts, each wearing the standard Team Galactic uniform of gray and black suits with stylized yellow Gs on their chests with black pants and gray boots for the two males present, and plain gray pants and boots for the two female Grunts. The outfits resembled space suits and those who had not been familiar with Team Galactic had erroneously called them spacemen on occasion.

Once they had stepped off of the ramp, the ramp retracted and the hatch closed. The ship then began to ascend into the sky. As it did so, Cyrus put his finger to his ear and activated a small Bluetooth microphone. "Galaxy One, ascend to approximately one thousand feet and fly a holding pattern above Spear Pillar. If anyone or anything even remotely suspicious approaches the mountain, deploy all assets to intercept."

"Understood, sir," the familiar shrill voice of Luna, a relatively new member of Team Galactic answered. She had been recruited along with the new executives Mercury, Venus, Uranus, and Neptune, each of who had been promoted to executives to assist Cyrus in the war and were standing with him as he departed his ship. So far, though, he had not needed to use any of their Pokémon expertise, which was fortunate since they were nowhere close to being as powerful as Mars, Jupiter, or Saturn; former Team Galactic executives that had not been all that strong to begin with.

Cyrus glanced around at the scenery and grinned. There appeared to be no one present, but he wanted to make sure. Turing to one of the male Grunts, he commanded, "Deploy the Alakazam that Venus gave you and make sure that we're alone up here."

"Yes, sir," the Grunt answered as he took out a Poké Ball. Tossing it into the air, he cried, "Go Alakazam!"

The Poké Ball opened and out came a human-shaped Pokémon with yellow skin, cat-like ears, a mustache, brown leather-like clothing, and holding two spoons. "Alakazam, scan the area for any signs of activity."

"Kazam," the Psychic-type Pokémon answered with a nod.

Alakazam's eyes then glowed as it telepathically scanned the entire peak of Mount Coronet. Ash and Leaf took a deep breath as they hoped that Starmie and Chandelure would be able to prevent them from being detected. Fortunately, Starmie and Chandelure seemed to be up to the task as they used their own psychic powers to cloak the presence of Ash, Leaf, and their Pokémon. The only one that was not cloaked with Pikachu, since he was visible, but Starmie and Chandelure had managed to prevent the Alakazam from detecting any of Pikachu's thoughts other than his fear of the arrival of the humans to Spear Pillar. To the Alakazam, it appeared as if Pikachu were nothing more than a wild Pokémon that had gotten lost on the mountain.

It quickly relayed all of the information it had gleaned back to the Grunt and the Team Galactic member soon reported, "Looks like there's no one here except us, Boss. There's a Pikachu here but it's nothin' more than a wild Pokémon."

Cyrus gritted his teeth, remembering his encounter with Ash and his Pikachu in the past. "Are you sure?" the Team Galactic Boss asked in a sinister tone, something that surprised the Grunt.

The Grunt looked back over at Alakazam questioningly. Alakazam then nodded to the Grunt, confirming that its impression of Pikachu was certain. "Alakazam says it's wild, Boss," the Grunt answered.

Cyrus scowled, unconvinced, but he did not push the issue any further. He then told the Grunt, "Return Alakazam and send it back to Venus immediately."

The Grunt nodded and returned the Psychic-type Pokémon back to its Poké Ball. He then took out a small square container and placed the ball inside. After pushing a button on top of the container, the interior of the container glowed as the Poké Ball was teleported up to the airship. Once that was completed, Cyrus spoke into his Bluetooth headset again, saying, "Luna, deploy assets and then cloak the ship and take it to the Sinjoh Ruins. Also, tell the others to begin their decoy assault on the Sinjoh Ruins. An attack there should keep Lance, Cynthia, and any other Champion Trainers or Coordinators busy while we fulfill our objectives here. Also, don't hesitate to use the trophies if you get in over your heads. If anything, they may be the key to accomplishing our objectives I fail here."

"Yes sir," the young voice of Luna answered.

Cyrus then told the four grunts flanking him, "You four remain with me. You're here in case things get difficult with Arceus."

"Why come here at all if you already have the trophies ready for use, sir," one of the Grunts asked.

"Because the trophies are nothing more than pale imitations of Arceus. If they somehow do create a Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina, then they'll also be nothing more than pale imitations of the Creation Trio as well. That won't do us any good if the real deal show up, or strong Trainers decide to test their Pokémon, particularly if they use this new Mega Evolution that was all the rage in Kalos and gaining traction in Hoenn, too."

The Grunt nodded and followed Cyrus as he began his trek to the center of Spear Pillar. As they walked forward, Ash, Leaf, and Pikachu did everything they could to avoid detection. This was not so difficult for Ash or Leaf, but Pikachu still had to play the role of a terrified rat until it was time to reveal himself to Team Galactic and fight. He continued to hide behind a pillar not too far away from where he suspected Ash was because he could smell him.

As Cyrus approached the center of the field of pillars, he told his subordinates, "Wait here."

They did as directed and Cyrus slowly and confidently strode towards the center of Spear Pillar. Once he arrived at the center of the area, he took out a strange ocarina-like device that Ash and Leaf realized was the fabled Azure Flute, the _real_ Azure Flute. The Azure Flute more closely resembled an ocarina than a flute. It had four tubes with holes at the end of them, plus a red mouthpiece at the end of the instrument. Cyrus put the Azure Flute to his lips and then blew into it, several notes echoing from the flute. The soft tone of the song that Cyrus played echoed across the mountain on the wind. The grunts were almost moved to tears as the notes sounded.

As soon as Cyrus finished the eerie song, the ground began to shake. A strange series of musical notes from an alien sounding instrument echoed all across the mountain's peak and an energy outline formed stretching from the ground out into the sky. Soon, a series of clear energy-based steps filled the outline. At the top of the stairs was what looked to be a glass-like platform. At the end of the platform was a bright light that likely indicated the presence of a portal of some sort. The Grunts looked on in wonder at the sight of the Hall of Origin appearing. Cyrus, though, only grinned. His goal was finally within reach. And this time, there were no pesky bounty hunters, Pokémon, or apes to stop him.

As Cyrus moved towards the steps that led up to the Hall of Origin, though, Leaf stepped out and removed her cloaking device, interposing herself between the Team Galactic Boss and the pathway to the hall. Cyrus stopped and scowled at the sight of the girl as she appeared before him.

"It appears as if Venus needs to train her Alakazam better," the Galactic Boss muttered, almost seething. He was so close to his goal. He was not about to let a child stand in his way. Still, his previous experience with children taught him not to underestimate them, especially if they were Pokémon Trainers. As such, he then touched his earpiece and spoke, saying, "Galaxy One, return to the mountain immediately and deploy all assets. It looks as if we have some intruders after all."

"Are you sure?" Luna asked, the surprise evident in her voice. "But I thought that the all clear was given."

"Tell that to the Trainer standing before me," Cyrus retorted. "As I said before, return to the mountain immediately and deploy all assets. I don't want any mistakes here."

"But sir, what about the Sinjoh Ruins?" came the concerned voice of Luna.

"The rest of Team Galactic and our allies can keep Lance and Cynthia busy," the Team Galactic Boss answered. "They won't be able to reach the mountain soon enough to make a difference."

"Understood," the woman answered.

Cyrus then severed the line and looked forward, focusing his attention on Leaf. He grimaced at the sight of the girl, having read a lot about her history of defeating the Kanto League as well as being regarded as one of the strongest Pokémon Trainers in the world. Reports had indicated that she had died over two years ago on the eve of the Galactic Federation Civil War, having been executed by members of Elric's secret police, the Watchmen. Her appearance here put to lie those reports.

"Step aside, child," Cyrus commanded in a low, cold voice.

"No," Leaf answered just as coldly.

"You don't want to do this," Cyrus warned. "My forces outnumber you. If you fight me, you'll lose."

Leaf then glanced behind her for a split second and nodded. Almost immediately, Starmie and Chandelure emerged from their cover and took flanking positions next to Leaf. "Well, that explains how Alakazam wasn't able to detect her," Cyrus mused softly. He then looked over to his Grunts and bellowed, "All Grunts, deal with this child now."

"Yes sir," the Grunts answered, immediately rushing forward and drawing out their Poké Balls. "Everyone go!" the Galactic Grunts cried in unison.

As they gave the order, they immediately tossed their Poké Balls into the air and deployed two Golbats, two Glameows, gray cat-like Pokémon with slender physiques and long, curled tails, three Croagunks, dark blue bipedal Pokémon that resembled poison dart frogs, a Murkrow, a black crow-like Pokémon, and a Stunky, a purple and white skunk-like Pokémon. The Grunts grinned as they deployed their Pokémon, knowing that they outnumbered Leaf's Pokémon nine to two.

Standing in front of the stairway that led to the Hall of Origin, Leaf outwardly kept and even face as the Team Galactic Grunts deployed their Pokémon forces, though in reality, she was doing everything she could to keep herself from grinning. The Golbats and the Murkrow were all vulnerable to Thunderbolt while the Croagunks were vulnerable to Psychic. Starmie and Chandelure would be more than enough to deal with the team arrayed against her. This was a mismatch. And to make matters even worse, her Pokémon were more than experienced enough to face these Pokémon without her having to give any orders.

"Attack!" the Grunts all cried in unison and the Pokémon went on the offensive, readying and powering their attacks. The Glameows went first, preparing to use Sucker Punch on Starmie and Chandelure. The two Pokémon could read the minds of the Glameows and simply floated out of reach of the Glameows as well as out of range of most of the powerful attacks from the other Pokémon in the process. Only the Golbats had reliable and powerful ranged techniques that they could use against Leaf's Pokémon and, thus, they were their first targets.

With this opening, Chandelure and Starmie used Psychic on the Golbats and Croagunks, as the Croagunks were huddled close together as they targeted Leaf's mobile Pokémon. The Golbats were immediately turned around as they were about to fire off their Confuse Rays. Once turned around, they fired off their Confuse Rays onto the Glameows and Stunky. Some of the cat-like Pokémon and skunk-like Pokémon wobbled around for a few seconds before attacking each other with Sucker Punch and Explosion in their confusion, a few of the Glameows having the Own Tempo ability to protect them from the confusion. However, it did them little good as Stunky erupted into an explosion that completely engulfed the Glameows, causing them to faint, as well as taking itself out of the fight. Leaf could only stare in shock. As for the Croagunks, Chandelure's Psychic was more than sufficient to render them unconscious.

"Well, that makes this a little easier," she commented as she looked on as Starmie finished off the Golbats and Murkrow with Thunderbolt. With that final Thunderbolt, the Team Galactic Grunts' Pokémon had all fainted. To make sure that they would not be able to cause any more problems in the future, Starmie fired off another volley of Thunderbolts, each one striking one of the Grunts, rendering said Grunt unconscious.

Cyrus could only grimace as his minions were defeated with such contemptuous ease. He had not expected his underlings to defeat the girl, but he had expected more than for them to take themselves out due to confusion and to be utterly wasted the way they had been. The Team Galactic Boss then let out a short grunt.

"Fine then, I'll do it myself," he muttered as he stepped forward and took out a Poké Ball and tossed it into the air. "Houndoom, go!" the Team Galactic Boss cried.

The ball opened and revealed a demonic-looking dog-like Pokémon that gave a long, mournful howl as he landed. If one had known the composition of Cyrus's team, as well as Leaf's power, they would have suspected Houndoom of bemoaning his fate as he was sent into a no-win scenario. For her part, Leaf was all too happy to engage Cyrus in a Pokémon Battle.

"Starmie, are you good to go?" she asked the starfish-like Pokémon

Starmie bobbed up and down in the affirmative.

"Then this one's yours."

Starmie then took its position in front of Leaf and prepared itself for the battle against Cyrus's Houndoom. It knew that Cyrus and his Pokémon would be a far more difficult battle than the fight against the Grunts had been.

Meanwhile, during Leaf's short battle against the Team Galactic Grunts and agents, Ash cautiously made his way towards the stairwell that led to the Hall of Origin, doing everything he could to not get between the battling Pokémon forces. Pikachu wanted to go with Ash, but he feared that by doing so, he would give away the fact that someone was headed towards the Hall of Origin. Still, he did have a cover in that heading towards the stairwell would take him away from the battle. As such, Pikachu made a mad dash towards the stairwell, not having to do any acting in order to look terrified since the last thing he wanted was to be hit by any stray attacks. Fortunately, it looked as if the Team Rocket Grunts' Pokémon were having problems of their own, having to deal with their confusion as well as Leaf's Pokémon's attacks. Once Pikachu reached the stairwell, he began the long, climb up to the hall.

As for Ash, since he still had the cloaking device on, and it had yet to run out of power, he was invisible to any Pokémon save for those that had telepathic abilities or extremely strong senses of hearing and/or smell. And only smell would actively be able to identify that someone was heading towards the Hall of Origin. With the Pokémon being distracted having been distracted battling Leaf's Pokémon, he would have an easy shot towards the hall, his only real concern being any stray ranged attacks. Once he reached the stairwell, he climbed it as fast as he could, following Pikachu, for if there were any surprises up in the Hall of Origin, he wanted to face them before Pikachu.

The trip up was a long and arduous climb several hundred feet above Spear Pillar on an already high mountain. Anyone climbing up the stairwell would have a marvelous view of the Sinnoh Region, though Ash was not thinking much about he view at the moment. He only had one goal in mind: reaching Arceus and hopefully convincing the Pokémon to use its power to undo the damage and death done in Kalos. It did not take long for him to catch up to Pikachu, and when he did, Pikachu could hear his footsteps and smell his presence, the electric rodent smiling as Ash ran past him.

Eventually, Ash reached the top of the stairwell and stood on the glass-like platform high above the Spear Pillar. As if on cue, the cloaking device that Ash had been wearing ran out of power the moment he reached the top and he was visible once more, though no one battling on the mountain below noticed his sudden reappearance. Pikachu, however, did, and when he reached the top, he greeted Ash with a, "Pikapi!"

"Hey buddy. It's good you made it, too," Ash replied. "Now, let's go find Arceus."

Pikachu nodded and followed Ash as he walked along the glass platform. As he walked, he looked down and saw Leaf battling Cyrus, with her more than holding her own against the Team Galactic Boss. He did not focus on her battle, instead looking ahead and finding a bright glowing light at the end of the platform. The human and Pokémon continued to steadily walk towards the glowing light, Ash and Pikachu both hoping and praying that Arceus would be able, and willing, to help them.

When they were about ten yards away from the portal, they stopped and waited to see if Arceus would come out to meet them, or if they would have to go in to meet him in his realm. After a few seconds, they began to see a figure emerging from the bright portal. Ash struggled to get a good look since the portal was so bright that he had to shield his eyes. Still, he was able to make out that the figure had a centaur-like body that was white with a gray underside. Its face was gray with green eyes and gray pupils. In addition, this creature had a gold cross-like wheel, which was attached to its body by its round abdomen. It looked out at Ash and Pikachu and canted its head a bit as if recognizing the duo.

"Greetings Ash," Arceus began in a deep voice. "May I ask what brings you here?"

Ash then stepped forward and answered, "You must know what has befallen the world."

Arceus nodded. "Indeed, I have seen the effects of the Ultimate Weapon. What is it that you need of me?"

"I was hoping that you could use your power to undo those events," Ash answered. Pikachu then jumped up onto his shoulder and echoed his statement. "Many people died in that blast, including several friends of mine, human and Pokémon alike. I was hoping you could either restore them, or undo the events entirely."

"I cannot do as you ask," Arceus answered, lowering his head and shaking it in the negative. Ash and Pikachu were taken aback by his answer, staring at him in disbelief.

"Why?" Ash blurted. "You're the most powerful Pokémon, if not thing, in existence. You're the Alpha Pokémon, a creation deity."

"Pika pika!" Pikachu added, echoing Ash's disbelief.

"No," Arceus answered, shaking his head. "I am not. And what you ask is the province of not merely _a_ god, but _the_ God.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20:

"Ash Ketchum," Arceus began, looking down at the boy. "What you are asking me to do is not merely as simple as rewinding time. Simply rewinding time to a point before the Ultimate Weapon was fired would be easy enough. However, I'm sure you know the shortcomings of such a plan."

"No," Ash answered, shaking his head, "I don't. What is the problem with that?"

"I would rewind _everything_ , including you. You would have no advance knowledge on how to stop Lysandre from firing the Ultimate Weapon, or of the mistakes you made that allowed him to win in the first place. You would end up making those same mistakes again. The Ultimate Weapon would still be fired, one-point-two billion people would still die. Serena would still die, as would Clemont and Bonnie."

"But that's not what I want," Ash told the Alpha Pokémon. "I want it so that the incident never happened but that I will have knowledge of what will happen in the future and be able to stop it."

Arceus could only sigh. "Ash Ketchum, what you are asking me to do is alter time, itself. You want me to undo an event entirely yet still have the people who could stop such an event know what happened so they can stop it. Such a task is highly difficult to nigh impossible if you do not wish to create a new timeline different from the one that exists now."

"But we did so three years ago," Ash challenged. "Remember when you hated humans because of what you thought was Damos's betrayal, only for it to turn out that it was Marcus who was using Damos as a puppet. You were destroying Michina Town and Dialga sent my friends and I back in time to find out what happened and try to change history. We did and you stopped destroying the town. You even remembered both timelines, at least for a time."

"Yes," Arceus admitted, nodding. "I remember those events. But that was different. You were only affecting me in going into the past. And I was only affecting Michina Town. I also had not killed anyone, either in the past or present so that was also easier for the timeline to handle without it breaking and splitting off into a new one. In addition, there was enough information not known that your going into the past may have already been a part of the timeline. Incidents like that have occurred before, though it is very rare. To this day I believe a miracle occurred when you went back in time in Michina Town and did not create a new timeline. However, what you are proposing now will not only break the timeline, there is a high probability that even in the new timeline, you will not get the desired result."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you think it's odd that Lysandre was able to do everything he did in such a short period of time?" Arceus asked. "He not only learned how to control the Ultimate Weapon without anyone discovering his plans, but he even laid out contingency plans for making sure that all paths would lead to victory. He knew that Serena was the greatest threat to his plans, so he had some Malamars adjust her dreams and desires to fit his wishes.

"He came up with the Mortality Trees to drain the life of everyone on the off chance that Serena, or somebody else, managed to stop him from firing the Ultimate Weapon, planting them in all of the Pokémon World regions, as well as various United Earth Nations. However, he had never been to the regions of Kanto, Johto, or Sinnoh. He had only once been to the Hoenn Region, spending most of his time in Kalos. How could he have planted Mortality Trees all around the world? Not only that, but how could he have created so many Mortality Trees without people noticing? Mortality Trees are genetically engineered Xerneases that also have the genes of Yveltal inside of them. They are also locked into their tree forms rather than their awakened forms. That takes years of planning. And that's assuming he doesn't have to worry about being discovered by the Pokémon League or by independent Trainers or other do-gooders."

"Okay," Ash eventually said. In his rush to try to avert the damage inflicted by Lysandre, he had not thought about how Lysandre had managed to get everything ready to go by the time he had been discovered. Arceus was right. Chances were that even if Leaf had been there and had managed to stop the Ultimate Weapon from firing, the Mortality Trees would still be draining life from the world, and from people. It could be even worse than it was now. Still, he now knew what he had to do to stop Lysandre. He had to find the origin point. If he could stop Lysandre before these plans had come to fruition, he would be able to prevent these tragedies from ever having occurred.

"So, all I have to do is find out when Lysandre began starting up his plan and stop him then, before he could come up with everything," Ash concluded.

"That may be more difficult than it seems," Arceus cautioned. "You would have to go to Dialga's realm to find out when you would have to stop Lysandre and hope that Dialga can send you there."

"I'll take that chance. And when we do, we'll stop Lysandre before he can get the ball rollin' on his plans," Ash declared proudly.

"Pika!" Pikachu declared just as proudly, clenching his fingers into a fist.

"There is one other issue that you have not considered," Arceus added.

Ash cocked his head and gazed at the Pokémon quizzically. "Whadaya mean?"

Arceus looked through the glass platform beneath his and Ash's feet directly at Leaf. "Leaf is almost certainly going to defeat Cyrus," Arceus stated. "Even with his cloaked airship, he won't be able to change his fate. She is just too strong. And with Cyrus's defeat, his plans for destroying this universe and creating one without spirit will die with him, saving all other life-forms in the process."

Ash looked down at Leaf, who was easily controlling the battle against Cyrus. "Look down there at the battle against Cyrus and watch," Arceus told Ash. "Leaf is fighting for the rest of the universe in that battle and she is winning."

Ash then joined Arceus and watched as Leaf battled Cyrus, the boy knowing that Leaf would likely win with ease. As he watched, for a fleeting moment, he thought that he could see something familiar in the girl.

Meanwhile, over near the Sinjoh Ruins, Captain Falcon piloted the Falcon Flyer towards a small temple. It was a relatively small building made of gray rocks, glued together with cement. Captain Falcon was surprised that the temple was as small as it seemed given its importance.

As he began the approach, he could already see several humans standing just outside the temple. He looked over at Cynthia and saw her give a satisfied smile. She gave a small nod of satisfaction. The others had gotten her message and most had already assembled at the ruins. She could easily make out Ethan, May, and Dawn, as well as their Pokémon, those that had survived the battles against the Mortality Trees. She had told Hilda, Hilbert, and Lance to deal with the remaining Mortality Trees while she and the others dealt with Team Galactic. While she had wished that there had been more survivors from the battles against the Mortality Trees, she was satisfied with the Trainers that had managed to gather at the ruins. She hoped that Hilda and Hilbert would finish off the trees shortly and come to help before Team Galactic arrived, for she knew that they would need them against Cyrus and whatever forces he brought to bear against them. She also hoped that reinforcements would come from the Pokémon League and/or the Galactic Federation in Exile. Close to the human trio was a machine with a computer hooked up to it. She hoped that it was some kind of early warning system, for the last thing they wanted was to only learn about Cyrus and his capabilities when he was right on top of them.

The Falcon Flyer landed just outside the temple and powered down, the boarding ramp extending from the hatch. While Captain Falcon prepared his Blue Falcon, Cynthia rushed down the ramp and went to join the trio. "What's the sitrep?" she asked quickly.

"So far, there isn't much to report," Dawn answered, looking over at Cynthia. "We haven't seen any sign of Cyrus or…"

Just then, there was a beep coming from the computer. Cynthia turned and saw Ethan sitting at the console. The two watched as his face became pale. "We have now," Ethan said ominously.

"What is it?" Cynthia asked in a concerned tone as she went over to see what was concerning Ethan.

"Cyrus, or his forces at least, just showed up on scanners. And I think all of Team Galactic is with him," the Johto Champion answered as Cynthia came over and got a good look at the picture on the computer screen. Her face narrowed as she saw over a hundred red blips appear on screen. According to the readout, there were three airships approaching, in addition to numerous skimmers and fighters. She knew from her own experience that airships like the ones that were approaching could also hold skimmers and other craft.

"So that's what we're facing," Cynthia stated, steeling herself for battle. They were tasked with facing down a small army.

May came over to see what was concerning Cynthia, Ethan, and Dawn so much. She looked at the screen and saw the approaching force. "So that's what Cyrus is bringing," she said grimly.

"We don't know if it's Cyrus yet," Ethan answered.

"We have to surmise that it is and plan accordingly," Cynthia stated, taking unofficial command.

Soon, Captain Falcon came to join the group, along with Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. "We've got everything ready," the F-Zero racer proclaimed, showing the group the Steel Diver blasters as well as some Motion-Sensor Bombs and Gooey Bombs.

"Good, we'll need them," Cynthia told him.

"Is he coming?" Captain Falcon asked.

"If it's not him, it's the rest of Team Galactic," Dawn answered for Cynthia.

Donkey Kong went over to the computer and saw the red blips that were approaching. Diddy took a look at the screen, too, and gave a whistle. "That's a lot of enemy ships," he noted distantly.

"Yeah, but we can take 'em," Donkey Kong proclaimed confidently, trying to inspire some confidence in the rest of the group.

"Either way, we'd better start getting ready," Cynthia told the others. "Since we have superior sensors, they probably haven't detected us yet. This way, we can make a battle plan and take them by surprise."

The others nodded and quickly went to work preparing their equipment for the battle to come. Captain Falcon passed out Ray Guns, Steel Divers, Cloaking Devices, and Super Scopes to the rest of the defenders. Despite many of the defenders not having experience using military grade weaponry and equipment, they knew that they could not be squeamish about such weapons at the moment. They would be facing an assault force that outnumbered and outgunned them. They needed every edge they could get. Once they were ready, they waited for the inevitable arrival of Team Galactic.

Back on Spear Pillar, Cyrus looked on in desperation as Houndoom was caught in a battle against Leaf's Starmie, and was getting the worst of the exchange. Houndoom had already used Dark Pulse, which Starmie had countered with Hydro Pump, which was steadily pushing back Houndoom's Dark-type energy blast.

"Houndoom, keep using Dark Pulse!" Cyrus cried. "Push more energy into it!" Cyrus knew that while Dark Pulse was weaker than Hydro Pump, it was Houndoom's best bet against Starmie, for any of his Fire-type attacks would be next to useless against the Water/Psychic-type Pokémon.

Houndoom did as commanded and pushed more energy into his attack, but it would not be anywhere close to enough. Starmie's Hydro Pump kept pushing back Houndoom's Dark Pulse and eventually, it reached Houndoom and collided with him, engulfing him in a stream of water. The force of the Hydro Pump, sent Houndoom flying backwards as the water smashed into his body, the current carrying him several meters away. Since Houndoom was part Fire-type, he took twice the normal damage from the attack. He was carried over a dozen meters away from the battlefield until the water dispersed and allowed Houndoom to crash into the ground, the Pokémon hitting the ground with a thud and skidding along the ground a few meters before coming to a stop and simply laying there.

"Houndoom, get up!" Cyrus commanded. However, it was in vain, for the swirls in Houndoom's eyes showed that he had fainted. Cyrus could only groan as he took out Houndoom's Poké Ball and returned the fallen Pokémon to his Poké Ball. He considered what Pokémon he should send out next. Honchkrow and Weavile still had a type advantage over the part Psychic-type Starmie while Gyarados was type neutral against Starmie, but he had seen the Water/Psychic-type use Thunderbolt so sending out Gyarados or Honchkrow was risky at best. Crobat was not an option at all due to his part Poison-typing.

In the end Cyrus decided, "Weavile, it's your turn! Go!"

Taking Weavile's Poké Ball, he tossed it out onto the makeshift battlefield. The ball opened and out came Weavile, a bipedal weasel-like Pokémon with a dark gray body and several feather areas along with a red crown made of wide red feathers and a single red feather on each ear. "Weavile," the Pokémon cried as he emerged from his Poké Ball.

That was Starmie's cue to return to Leaf's side. Chandelure then floated out onto the battlefield to face down Weavile. "Weavile, use Night Slash!" the Team Galactic Boss roared.

Weavile did as Cyrus commanded and proceeded to rush Chandelure as he powered a Night Slash. Weavile went evasive as he dashed from point to point, doing his best to keep Chandelure from being able to get an accurate bead on him. Chandelure could tell that Weavile was doing his best to go evasive so he decided to make the Pokémon come at him in a straight line. He quickly rose into the air just as Weavile slashed at the air where Chandelure had been a second ago. Weavile gave a grunt and jumped after the ascending Ghost/Fire-type Pokémon. This was his fatal mistake, for it allowed Chandelure to get a bead on _him_ , instead. As Weavile was powering his Night Slash, Chandelure unleashed his Fire Blast right at the charging Pokémon. Weavile charged headfirst right into the stick-figure-like blast of flame. A single Fire Blast was sufficient to put down Weavile as he was sent hurtling back down the ground, where he hit and remained still, the rising and falling of his chest being the only evidence that he was still alive. The swirling eyes, however, showed Cyrus that he was unable to battle.

The Team Galactic boss gritted his teeth as he returned Weavile to his Poké Ball. He was in trouble now. All three of his remaining Pokémon were vulnerable to an attack that Starmie could perform. And that was before getting into the rest of Leaf's Pokémon. If she had even one Electric-type Pokémon on her team, then his own team would be annihilated. He was considering ending this farce of a battle and simply calling in the airship and other assets in order to attack the girl right now, but he decided against it. Even though he still needed to reach Arceus, and also had a Red Chain to try to control said Pokémon, and would want to have a fallback plan should the worst happen and the Red Chain not be strong enough to control Arceus. In addition, he knew that Leaf would be on guard if he called in an airstrike now. At the very least, he wanted to weaken her team before he unleashed his air power on her. In the end, he decided to try to take out Starmie with Honchkrow.

"Honchkrow, go!" he cried as he tossed Honchkrow's Poké Ball onto the battlefield. The ball opened and revealed a large crow-like Pokémon that resembled its pre-evolved form, Murkrow.

When Chandelure saw Honchkrow emerge from the Poké Ball, he returned to Leaf's side. Now, she had a decision to make. Should she have Starmie face down all three remaining Pokémon of Cyrus, a feat that should not be too difficult for it, or should she reveal her third Pokémon in Jolteon and have him defeat Cyrus's three remaining Pokémon. While Starmie had battled against Houndoom, it had not taken any damage and she did not want to reveal all of her team to Cyrus. The less he knew about her team, the better. As such, she decided to send Starmie out and she looked over to it and nodded, prompting Starmie to return to the battlefield. Starmie gracefully spun through the air and landed on Leaf's edge of the battlefield.

Cyrus gritted his teeth as he saw Starmie land. His two ranged attacks were next to useless against a Water/Psychic-type Pokémon like Starmie and both Drill Peck and Night Slash were close range attacks, meaning that they would open up Honchkrow to Starmie's Thunderbolt. As such, Cyrus accepted that he would likely lose Honchkrow.

"Honchkrow, use Heat Wave on Starmie!" Cyrus ordered. He almost cringed when giving the order, knowing that Starmie was resistant to it. Still, he hoped that he would at least inflict some damage onto Starmie and, if he got lucky, may have also inflicted a burn on Starmie.

Leaf had to keep herself from laughing as Honchkrow fired off the Heat Wave on Starmie, the starfish-like Pokémon returning fire with Thunderbolt. The bolt of lightning collided with the Heat Wave and Starmie's superior special attack abilities were clearly put on display as the Thunderbolt powered through the Heat Wave, dispersing it and plowing straight through to Honchkrow. The Thunderbolt scored a direct hit on Honchkrow, electricity arcing over the bird's body and the bird giving out a cry of pain. Honchkrow then fell out of the sky and collided with the ground, swirls appearing in his eyes as he lay there unconscious. Cyrus was down to two Pokémon, both of who were incredibly vulnerable to Starmie.

As was becoming routine for him, Cyrus took out Honchkrow's Poké Ball and returned the Pokémon to it. He then had to decide who was going to fall next, Crobat, who would either be taken out by a Thunderbolt or Psychic, or Gyarados, who would fall to Thunderbolt. In the end, Cyrus sighed and decided to send Crobat into the impossible battle.

"Crobat, come on out," Cyrus called in a not very enthusiastic voice. The Poké Ball opened and Crobat came out. Almost sensing his master's lack of confidence, he took one look at Starmie and almost attempted to retreat.

"Crobat, if you retreat now, no harm will come to you; you have our word," Leaf called to Crobat. Starmie gave a cry, echoing Leaf's sentiment as well.

"Crobat, use Confuse Ray to confuse Starmie!" Cyrus cried.

Seeing a potential for hope in the battle, Crobat obeyed, attempting to use Confuse Ray on Starmie, only to find that it seemed as if gravity had increased to one hundred times that of Earth's as he was smashed into the ground by Starmie's Psychic. As soon as Crobat was practically pancaked into the ground, swirls appeared in his eyes, signaling that the battle was over.

Just as he had three times before, Cyrus recalled Crobat into his Poké Ball and grimaced. This was not a battle. This was a slaughter, and that was putting it kindly. Leaf was surely demonstrating why she was the World Pokémon League Champion. He had just expected to at least inflict _some_ damage to one of her Pokémon, rather than have two members of her team absolutely annihilate his best team. And to make matters worse, Starmie was the one doing most of the work. The Team Galactic Boss soon fingered the Poké Ball of Gyarados, his final Pokémon. Hoping against hope, he tossed the Poké Ball into the air.

"Gyarados, go!" he cried.

The massive blue serpentine dragon-like Pokémon immediately emerged from his Poké Ball and gave a cry, looking down menacingly at Starmie and giving off an intimidating cry. His Intimidate also cut Starmie's Attack power, though that was useless against Starmie since Starmie's offensive moves were exclusively Special Attacks.

"Gyarados, use…" but Cyrus could not even get out the words 'Giga Impact' before Starmie launched a Thunderbolt at Gyarados and took down the Water/Flying-type draconic Pokémon, the ground shaking as Gyarados crashed into it. Swirls immediately appeared in his eyes as the cloud of dirt was thrown up by his fall. The battle was over. Cyrus had lost. It had been a massacre.

"Damn," he swore distantly as he returned Gyarados to his Poké Ball and stared at Leaf, who was glaring at him. He had not expected to win the battle, but he had most certainly not expected to be utterly degraded like this. This was worse than when he had been stopped by that Pokémon Trainer three years ago. Still, the war was not over. So he lost the Pokémon Battle. Big deal. He had not expected to win that anyway. He had planned for this contingency when he had seen Leaf stand between him and the Hall of Origin. The girl was about to be in for a big surprise.

"Galaxy One, what is your location?" he whispered into his earpiece.

"We're right above you," he heard the voice of Luna reply. "What are your instructions?"

"Call in our assets and have them attack at once," Cyrus commanded. "As for you, once the assets arrive, decloak and attack the girl. Kill her, her Pokémon, and anyone or anything else that stands in our way."

"Roger," Luna answered.

As soon as Cyrus gave the order, Leaf looked up right at where he suspected the gunship was hovering. He could not hide his shock as he strongly suspected that she knew of the cloaked airship. "Galaxy One, belay all previous orders, attack now!" Cyrus cried.

The airship immediately decloaked and trained all missile launchers and cannons on Leaf, Starmie, and Chandelure. The ship had made a grievous error in decloaking, for it gave both Pokémon a good idea of where the ship was and what its capabilities were. Leaf wasted no time, tossing her Poké Balls into the air and crying, "Everyone, stand by for battle!"

Her Poké Balls opened and out came the rest of her Pokémon team. The Pokémon landed, some of them with thuds that shook the ground, and they all looked up at the airship before Cyrus's other assets appeared on the scene. She grimaced as she made a tactical analysis of the situation. Even if Ash was able to join in the fighting and they each got off the first shots, they would only likely deal with twelve of the skimmers at best before the skimmers opened fire, and that was not taking the airship, which was by far the most dangerous of the enemy craft they were facing, into account.

"Attack!" Cyrus cried at the top of his lungs. "Destroy them before they have a chance to react!"

The skimmers complied and they began making their attack runs on Leaf and her Pokémon friends, beams of electricity raining down upon Leaf and her Pokémon friends. Garchomp and Jolteon immediately stepped out in front of them and intercepted the initial volley, suffering no damage from the electrical beams, allowing the rest of her Pokémon friends to launch a counterattack. Venusaur was the first to engage, firing off an Energy Ball at the lead skimmer, scoring a direct hit on the front of the craft. The ball exploded against the hull of the skimmer, shattering its front, causing a chain reaction that blew the skimmer apart, along with its pilot. Jolteon fired next, unleashing a Thunderbolt on another skimmer. The bolt of lightning struck the craft in its center of mass and electricity arced all across the skimmer, as well as the unfortunate pilot flying the craft. The pilot was rendered unconscious and fell off of the skimmer, and a hundred feet downward to his death, where he hit the ground headfirst, shattering his skull and much of the rest of his body. Meanwhile, the disabled skimmer crashed into a third skimmer and destroyed it, the third skimmer's pilot meeting the same fate as the first skimmer's.

Starmie, Tyranitar, Chandelure, and Garchomp were also eager to get a piece of the action, each of them firing off various attacks on the attacking skimmers while doing their best to draw fire away from Leaf and any Pokémon that were vulnerable to the skimmers' attacks. Starmie used Psychic to disassemble a skimmer in midair, the unfortunate pilot falling off of the craft and tumbling down the side of the mountain, hitting thousands of feet below, bringing a swift end to his career. Garchomp and Tyranitar forced the other skimmers to go evasive as they fired off barrages of Stone Edge, stones lashing out at the metallic craft. The stones managed to tag two of the skimmers, piercing their hulls and damaging their anti-gravity drives, causing them to fall out of the sky. The others were forced to break off their attack runs lest they meet the fate of the two that had not been quick enough to avoid the rain of stones.

Chandelure, meanwhile, unleashed a Fire Blast on another skimmer, melting its front half until it was nothing more than liquid. The flames also caught the pilot and incinerated him, causing the skimmer to break apart, littering melted metal all over the Spear Pillar. The Pokémon team grinned. Seven skimmers had been destroyed, leaving thirteen to go.

Of course, Leaf was not one to let her Pokémon do all the work. She ducked behind one of the spear-like stone pillars and, drawing one of her Ray Guns, she drew a bead on one of the skimmers as it was coming in to make another attack run, its target, Venusaur. She leveled her pistol at the skimmer and immediately pulled the trigger. A green pulse of energy leapt from its barrel and struck the skimmer straight in its electrical projector. Since the projector was already powered for an attack run, when its skin was pierced, it overloaded and exploded, shattering the front half of the skimmer and throwing its pilot off of the craft, and down to the ground on the side of the mountain.

The twelve remaining skimmers fell back for a bit and regrouped out of easy attack range of Leaf and her Pokémon friends. Leaf and her Pokémon friends soon steeled themselves for their next attack when the airship went to cover them, firing a barrage of energy blasts at Leaf and her Pokémon friends, forcing them to scatter. The blasts of energy threw up dirt and debris but they did not find their marks, though they had managed to scatter her and her Pokémon. To make matters even worse, Cyrus revealed his secret when he suddenly appeared wearing a purple suit of armor with green highlights on it. On his left hand was an energy projector of some sort. Leaf took one look at the suit and knew that it was modified from a Galactic Federation design. He was pulling out all the stops.

Leaf focused her gaze on Cyrus and seethed, "Well, no one ever said this was going to be easy." She then turned to the rest of her Pokémon team and told them, "You all focus on the airship and skimmers. Don't worry about me."

Her Pokémon turned and stared at her in shock. "Do it!" she reiterated, roaring. "Your lives matter more than mine right now. If I don't make it, you're the only ones who can carry out our mission! Now take out those skimmers and that airship then get up to the Hall of Origin!"

The Pokémon begrudgingly nodded and turned to focus on the skimmers and airship and went to engage them. Leaf then turned to Cyrus and focused intently on him and drew her other Ray Gun. Cyrus, for his part, grinned from beneath his faceplate, knowing that the girl was no match for him. "You won't beat me, Leaf. You're all alone here. Even if my airship and the skimmers are destroyed, you'll fall before your Pokémon can reach you."

Leaf continued to scowl but inwardly, she was grinning. He apparently had not remembered that Ash was up in the Hall of Origin and could likely see what was going on down on the Spear Pillar. While she did not want him to participate directly in the fighting, she would have loved for him to send in his Pokémon team.

Up in the Hall of Origin, Ash was watching the battle below. Seeing that Leaf could be getting in trouble, he grabbed two Poké Balls and looked over at Pikachu and said, "Buddy, get ready. This is for real."

"Pika," Pikachu answered, clenching his fingers into fists as he prepared to help Leaf against Cyrus.

"Hold on," Ash heard Arceus caution as the god-like Pokémon stepped forward.

Ash looked back at him and shook his head. "No. Leaf's in trouble. She can't beat Cyrus, his airship, and skimmers on her own. Her Pokémon will win, but she'll die in the process."

Ash looked past the airship and two aircraft approaching. They looked to be small, but Ash knew not to underestimate something due to size. "Very well, send out your Charizard and Pikachu," Arceus directed, acquiescing to Ash's wishes. "That will be sufficient for this battle. You'll want to conserve the power of the rest of your Pokémon for later in your mission if you are not dissuaded from it."

Ash was not listening to Arceus as he tossed Charizard's Poké Ball into the air and cried, "Charizard, I choose you!"

Charizard's Poké Ball opened and out came the dragon-like Pokémon, the Fire/Flying-type Pokémon giving a roar as he emerged from his Poké Ball and landed in front of Ash. "Charizard, you and Pikachu go down and help Leaf against Cyrus."

Charizard gave a roar and expelled a blast of flame as Pikachu jumped onto Charizard's back. Once they were ready, Charizard rocketed into the air and dove straight down towards Leaf and Cyrus, both Pokémon eager to assist Ash's friend against the enemy below.

Meanwhile, over in the remains of the Kalos Region of France, John piloted a skimmer through the wastes, searching for a very specific point of interest. Looking at the scanners on the skimmer, he let the tracker guide him to his destination, which was not too far. Even though he was in the middle of a wasteland, he was still on the lookout for any unexpected, and unwelcome, guests. There was no way he would be caught off guard on the off chance that Lysandre or one of his cronies had somehow survived Kalos's destruction.

He soon saw the orange cone on the scanner that was pointing in the general direction of his target begin to expand. That was his cue to slow down and start a more detailed scan. He slowed the skimmer and brought it into hover until he had a positive bead on the direction of his target. He activated the deep scanners and proceeded to have them point out the direction of the target in a silver arrow that overlaid the cone. Adjusting the skimmer's direction, he proceeded to accelerate in the direction indicated by the arrow, flying at a safe speed, for he knew that he was coming towards a large mountain.

As he approached the mountain, he pushed another button on the skimmer and a holographic representation of the mountain appeared. Soon, a small glowing dot appeared on the mountain. Touching the dot on the hologram, the image magnified the section of the mountain, showing an entrance that looked as if it had collapsed during Kalos's destruction. Scanning the area, he realized that there would be no other way in.

He approached the collapsed cave entrance and proceeded to charge up the skimmer's underslung energy cannons. They were not usual armaments for skimmers such as this, but he felt as if the weaponry was necessary should he need to either defend himself, or do some excavation, which it appeared he would have to.

When he reached the entrance, he examined the scene and then checked the charge on his weapons. The skimmer's weapons were fully charged but he decided to set them to only half power, since he did not want to risk a cave-in. Once he was lined up with the entrance, he pushed the firing stud for the skimmer's weapons and two bright red energy blasts erupted from the cannons. They struck the stones and blew a hole in the collapsed entrance, sending superheated fragments of rock flying in all directions. A cloud of dust and smoke obscured the entrance, though the John's scanners indicated that the hole blown into the collapsed rock pile was large enough to fit him. Further scans indicated that the cave was structurally sound.

Wasting no time, he landed the skimmer close to the cave's entrance and, after grabbing an energy rifle, as much for the flashlight mounted on it as for any of its offensive capabilities, dismounted from the vehicle. He landed softly on the ground and proceeded to make his way into the cave.

The interior of the cave was barren save for a few drops of water dripping from the ceiling. Taking out a handheld scanner, he scanned the area to search for the treasure that the cave hid. Just a she had suspected, there were no life-forms inside the cave, though the scanner did reveal the object that he was looking for. He quickly shined his flashlight on it and revealed a round stone with a pink flare-like symbol in the middle, clearly marking it as a Mega Stone of some sort. John reached down and grabbed it, grinning, though his faceplate concealed his face.

"Excellent," he murmured. "You'll need this for your mission once we get you out of the warp zone."

With that, the man departed the cave and went back to his skimmer, pocketing the Mega Stone in the process. Once he reached his skimmer, he mounted it, powered up its engines and took off. Once he had ascended to a few dozen meters, he rocketed off into the distance, heading back to a small portal that was still open. He then rocketed through the portal, heading back to Smash World. The first part of his plan had been accomplished.

Back on the Spear Pillar, Cyrus fired a blast of energy at Leaf, the blast sailing over her head, missing her by inches. Apparently, Cyrus was not well versed in using his suit's weapons systems. She returned fire with her Ray Guns, scoring multiple hits on Cyrus, but his suit's shields absorbed the blast and no damage was inflicted no the armor. She grimaced. It would take a long time for her to pierce the suit's shields and armor if she only used her Ray Guns. She did not want to use her Gooey Bombs this soon but she knew that she had to deal with Cyrus quickly and help her Pokémon friends or they could get overwhelmed by the airship and the skimmers. Currently, the airship and skimmers were taking potshots at her Pokémon friends, trying to keep them out of their attack range, knowing that with their firepower, either a lucky hit or the strength of the airship's fire would eventually wear down the Pokémon and either inflict significant injury, or even death, on the Pokémon.

She was about to try to rush past Cyrus and assist her Pokémon friends when she saw a stream of flame and a bolt of lightning come up from behind the airship and skimmers and crash into them and destroying them. The airship suffered significant damage as the flames melted portions of the hull and even cooked off some of the ammunition in the weapons ports, causing numerous explosions, smoke and flame being expelled from the holes generated from the explosions, along with some equipment and crew, but the airship still stayed aloft, which was more than could be said of the skimmers. Soon, another volley of Thunderbolts and Flamethrowers crashed into the skimmers and either shorted them out, turning them into massive deadweights, or melted them to slag with single hits. Two thirds of the skimmers were destroyed in the volley, leaving only four support craft left.

Leaf looked past the airship and remaining skimmers and caught sight of Charizard rocketing towards the remaining skimmers, firing off another volley of Flamethrowers. She was also able to make out Pikachu riding on top of Charizard, the electric mouse firing Thunderbolt after Thunderbolt on the enemy craft.

Leaf grinned as Jolteon and Garchomp quickly returned to her side as she fired off more shots from her Ray Gun at Cyrus. His shields took some damage from the blasts, but were still able to weather the volley. He retaliated with an electrical blast from his energy projector, only to have Jolteon step in front of the blast of lightning and absorb the entire blast. Garchomp then rushed Cyrus and performed a Dragon Claw on him, her claws glowing a bright white as she raked them across his faceplate. Cyrus saw his shields greatly diminish with the strike and he backed off, wishing that he had equipped his suit with either missiles or a different special weapon, for he felt as if his standard Power Beam would not be sufficient to stop Leaf's Pokémon.

Looking at his visor's scanner, he found that the airship was having difficulty of its own, already having sustained numerous hull breaches, smoke and flame spewing forth from the holes blasted into the ship. He also saw that all of the skimmers had been destroyed so help would not be forthcoming from the air. That left him with only one option. Activating his suit's communicator, he opened a channel to the rest of his forces launching their decoy attack on the Sinjoh Ruins and bellowed, "Mars, Jupiter, do you read me?"

Over at the Sinjoh Ruins, Mars, Jupiter, and the rest of Team Galactic were having issues of their own battling Cynthia and the other defenders of the Sinjoh Ruins All three of Mars's Pokémon: Bronzong, Golbat, and Purugly, had already fainted without inflicting any real damage to any of the Trainers' teams. The helicopter gunships that they had used in order to support the assault had been destroyed in the first volley of the counterattack. The airships had followed as The Kongs and Captain Falcon unleashed a barrage of Steel Diver torpedoes on them, shattering them as the powerful explosives exploded against the hulls of the ships, gouging massive holes into the ships, as well as damaging their engines, causing them to crash and explode. Their forces were getting annihilated far more easily than they had anticipated. Apparently, the defenders were doing better than even _they_ had anticipated as well given the initial numerical discrepancy. Mars and Jupiter were falling back so they could make a report while the Grunts kept the two Champions busy so she could make her report to Cyrus when she heard Cyrus's voice crackle in over her comm, "Mars, Jupiter, do you read me?"

"Yeah, Cyrus, I read you," Mars answered.

"Mars, is that you?"

"Yeah, everything okay? I just want to know that our sacrifice won't be in vain."

"Sacrifice?" Cyrus asked, his voice trailing off, dreading what Mars was about to say.

"The Sinnoh Champion Cynthia and Johto Champion Ethan are here, along with a couple of others, including that girl that bonded with Mesprit. We're getting our rear ends handed to us. We won't last much longer. Just tell us we bided enough time for your dream to…" but she never got a chance to finish, for just as she was speaking, Ethan's Typhlosion unleashed a massive Flamethrower on her position while Cynthia's Garchomp simultaneously fired a Draco Meteor at not only her position, but that of the remaining Grunts and Commanders as well. The Flamethrower first struck the forward Grunts and then was swept back towards Mars, incinerating Jupiter and Charon in the process, while the Draco Meteor bombarded Mars and the few Grunts near her, annihilating them. Within seconds, the battle was seemingly over and all that could be heard over the line was static.

Back on the Spear Pillar, Cyrus's heart sank as he realized that reinforcements would not be forthcoming and, if his plan here failed, there was no way he would be able to take the Sinjoh Ruins. He looked up at the Pokémon unleash more attacks on his airship, the Thunderbolts and Flamethrower attacks blasting more holes into the ship, causing more flames to spew out, as well as for the ship to spill its guts in equipment and even crew. He then looked up and saw Ash's Charizard and Pikachu flying towards the airship. He did not recognize the Charizard, but he had a terrible feeling that he had faced that Pikachu before and gave a low grumble. With those two Pokémon attacking the airship, along with Jolteon and Garchomp, his prognosis for this battle was increasingly dire.

Back up at the airship, Charizard and Pikachu unleashed a volley of Flamethrower and Electro Ball directly into the airship's ventral engines. The attacks struck two of the engines and promptly short-circuited them and also melted their parts, quickly causing them to explode, shrapnel spewing forth from the engines, causing Charizard to back off. With the two engines on the same side of the ship having been destroyed, the two remaining engines were unable to keep the large craft aloft. The ship listed to the side as fire, smoke, and debris spewed from the engine ports. The craft then began to descend as the plane turned to get out from underneath the ship. To make matters worse, one of the two remaining engines then seemed to spontaneously explode, fire and metal spewing forth from the hole, the ship looking as if it was bleeding from another wound. That was too much for the airship and it immediately fell out of the sky, smoke trailing the craft from the many holes in its hull. The ship was already close to a large drop off and when it fell, its port side crashed into the side of the mountain, crushing its remaining engine. A loud smash could be heard as it crushed and flattened many sharp stones jutting out from the mountain. A rending sound could then be heard as the ship scraped against the mountain side and then fell over the edge, falling more than a thousand feet below, smearing parts of itself across the mountainside as it fell and eventually crashed into the ground where it crumpled into a large heap and exploded, the last of the fuel igniting.

Cyrus cringed as he heard the ship die. He cared not for his underlings who had lost their lives, but for the fact that he was now alone, facing off against two, now four, powerful Pokémon, and a strong Trainer. The only good thing was that he heard some claps and saw a dozen Team Galactic Grunts appear between him and his opponents, along with a couple Alakazams as well.

His relief would be short-lived, though, as he watched Charizard and Pikachu tear into the Alakazams with Flamethrower and Thunderbolt, respectively. Since the Pokémon were not trained for battle against high-level opponents, each one fell to little more than one attack.

"This day just keeps getting worse!" Cyrus seethed as he saw the Charizard dive towards him at full speed, readying a Flamethrower. The Team Galactic Boss barely managed to avoid getting struck by the Flamethrower. Unfortunately, he happened to jump right into a massive Stone Edge outcropping erected by Garchomp.

Cyrus saw half of his shields instantly disappear from the impact with the stones. As he turned to fire on Garchomp, he noticed a heat warning as Charizard unleashed a large stream of flame on him, destroying his remaining shields and inflicting damage to his armor, smoke rising from his suit as he could feel he heat from the attack.

He was about to launch his counterattack and hopefully take out one or more of his opponents when upon attempting to fire, his energy projector refused to fire. He then looked at it and saw electricity arcing across it, as well as sparks erupting from several areas of the projector. "Great, as if things couldn't possibly get worse," he muttered.

They did, and fast. Leaf, and her Pokémon team soon surrounded Cyrus, with Pikachu and Charizard landing near Leaf to support them, Pikachu jumping down from Charizard, his cheeks crackling with electricity, eager to unleash a Thunderbolt on Cyrus if he tried anything.

"Cyrus, on behalf of United Earth, the Pokémon World, and the Galactic Federation in Exile, I hereby arrest you for crimes against sentients and over six billion counts of attempted murder," Leaf proclaimed.

Cyrus gave a grin. "You have no jurisdiction over me, girl" he declared haughtily. "You're just a Pokémon Trainer."

"This 'Pokémon Trainer' happens to be the World Pokémon League Champion," Leaf declared proudly. "And we're eager to bring you in at the least."

"Oh no, Leaf," Cyrus threatened. "I'll never be taken alive." He then grinned. "And soon, you'll see this universe's end!" he cried as he reached into a compartment of his suit and took out what looked to be a red chain that looked to be formed from red crystals of some sort.

"Oh no," Leaf uttered in dread. She had heard of the Red Chain but had not actually seen it in use before. "Take him out now! He's going to use the Red Chain on Arceus above!" she cried.

The others did not have to be told twice as they unleashed all of their attacks on Cyrus. The Pokémon unleashed their various ranged attacks on the Team Galactic Boss, unleashing a volley of stones, blasts of flame, and bolts of lightning on the Team Galactic Boss. All of their fire struck Cyrus's suit, which had its reserve shields instantly drained and it suffered more damage as flames washed over it and it took the full brunt of the assault from the heroes. Small holes were burned into the suit, but were not enough to kill him, despite the fact that flames from Charizard and Chandelure's Flamethrower attacks were almost certainly burning his skin, with them possibly spreading. The suit also suffered attacks from Tyranitar and Garchomp's Stone Edges as barrages of stones assaulted his suit. Still, he did not fall, though he did drop his Red Chain, which seemed to suffer a direct hit from Charizard's Flamethrower, seemingly damaging it as smoke rose from the chain and a couple of its links broke.

Eventually, Starmie fired an Ice Beam at Cyrus that scored a direct hit. A sheet of ice formed at the point of impact and spread out as the starfish-like Pokémon continued to pour energy into the beam. The sheet of ice continued to spread and eventually enveloped Cyrus, freezing him into a block of ice, rendering him completely frozen, if not dead due to having some of his skin exposed. Despite Cyrus being frozen, though, Tyranitar wanted to make sure that his threat was permanently neutralized. As such, he went over to Cyrus and smashed his fists into the frozen form of the Team Galactic Boss. Cyrus then shattered into a thousand shards, prompting Tyranitar to give a roar of victory. The threat of Cyrus and Team Galactic was finally over. With Cyrus's threat having been dealt with, the group then focused their attention towards the Hall of Origin, with Leaf proceeding to rush towards the stairs that led to the hall, the rest of her team following her.

Back in the Hall of Origin, Ash had watched as Leaf, her Pokémon friends, and Charizard and Pikachu had dealt with Cyrus and his forces. "Yes," Ash said quietly as Leaf had defeated Cyrus. He looked back at Arceus and saw the god-like Pokémon looking down at the scene and giving what he suspected was a satisfied smile.

It did not take long for the group to come up the steps and enter into the hall. Arceus raised its head and gazed at them. "You did a great job dealing with the threat that Cyrus and his forces posed. An evil has been vanquished."

"Yes, but not before a great deal of damage had been done elsewhere," Leaf stated plainly.

"Yes," Arceus replied in a melancholy tone. "I am all too aware of the losses suffered in Europe, as well as the environmental damage suffered to the planet."

"Then you must know why we're here," she said.

"I've already tried, Leaf," Ash said, shaking his head.

As if knowing exactly what Ash had meant, Leaf was taken aback by his statement and stepped a few steps backwards, the others looking at her quizzically. "Arceus, over a billion people are dead, and that was the last report given several hours ago, and reports were still coming in. Please, help us undo the damage inflicted by the firing of the Ultimate Weapon," the girl pleaded.

"And you must know why I cannot accept your request," Arceus answered.

"Why can't you?" Leaf demanded. "Legend's say that you're a god and that you created the universe!"

"You more than anyone else knows that neither of those legends is true," Arceus replied.

"But you still have the power to undo the damage done by Lysandre. So why won't you do it?"

"Because as bad as the deaths of those people are, things could become a whole lot worse if I do so," Arceus answered, allowing that to sink in to the rest of the party for a few moments.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21:

The group stood there in stunned silence over Arceus's statement. "What do you mean that things could get a whole lot worse?" Ash demanded. "How could it get much worse than over a billion people being dead?"

"You have to take _all_ possible events into consideration when dealing with issues like this," Arceus answered. "As harsh as it may be to say, one billion is not a lot when dealing with the potential deaths of trillions."

"But the entire Galactic Federation doesn't have a population that goes into the trillions," Leaf contested.

"No, but the population of the entire universe goes far beyond that," Arceus retorted, focusing his gaze on the Pokémon League Champion. "Think about what Cyrus's goal was. He hoped to unmake this entire universe, and everyone in it, and replace it with a universe without spirit. And in his attempt to accomplish his perverse goals, the entire Galactic Federation was drawn into a civil war that has cost tens of millions of lives. However, now that he's dead, the war is going to end because the threat to Earth is eliminated and cooler heads on both sides will prevail and hammer out a treaty that both sides can live with. After all, the only reason Earth and its colonies broke away was because of Elric and later Cyrus. With them dead, they can find common ground with the Federation since Earth is no longer in direct danger. And, despite the tragedy in Europe, that incident will help both sides find common ground and come to the table to help the people of Earth that were caught in the middle," the god-like Pokémon explained.

"And who's to say that us going back in time won't make things turn out even better?" Leaf queried. "The Galactic Federation Civil War has lasted for over two years. Who's to say that what happens when we go back won't create a better outcome, and minus the one billion plus that died thanks to Lysandre. Besides, I highly doubt that a lot of the races on the Federation's side care a lick about Earth and its people. With all the propaganda they've been fed, they're probably thrilled we're suffering as we are."

"You know that's not true," Arceus stated, glowering at Leaf. "And even if it were, they are not the ones that will be in charge of the negotiations. Cyrus may be dead, but his goals will be exposed by Lance and Cynthia."

"You're still not giving us any incentive to _not_ go back and try to change what happened in Kalos," Ash stated flatly.

"Then let me give you two reasons," Arceus retorted. "First, there is no guarantee that you will be able to change the history of _this_ timeline if you go back. As I said before, when you first went back to find out why I was so angry at humanity, all you did was change what happened to _me_. Maybe a few others, too. What you are proposing will change virtually everything for a whole lot of people. Besides the one billion plus that will be saved, you'll change the lives of several people, some of who were very close to you."

"That's right, Arceus, _were_!" Ash boomed. "They're dead now. By changing the past, maybe they won't be killed!"

"Perhaps," Arceus admitted. "But there's no way to be certain that their fates will change, either." He then paused for a moment for them to take it all in before continuing, "If you go into the past and attempt to change the timeline, you run the very severe risk of creating an entirely new timeline that will break off from the moment you appear in the past. Everything you do may be different _there_ , but will have no effect on _this_ timeline."

"Then why are you so worried about us changing this timeline?" Ash demanded.

"Because if you do, somehow, change _this_ timeline, there's no telling what the effects will be," Arceus answered. "And more importantly, no one will know what events were supposed to have happened. Everything could be different for the worst and no one would be the wiser."

The group considered what Arceus was telling them and could not fault his concerns. Indeed, there was no real way to tell what would happen once the timeline was changed. Indeed, everything could be different and they would each be none the wiser. Still, for a Pokémon as powerful as Arceus, they had to have a feeling that it could do something about that, and Leaf said as much. "Arceus, are you telling me that if the timeline were altered, that you would not know? You, considered to be a god-like Pokémon who legend says created not only Sinnoh, but the entire universe? You're saying that an altered timeline is beyond your ability to perceive?"

Arceus shook its head. "Again, it depends on how many changes are made," he reiterated. "When Ash changed my past, all he did was affect me, him, and an incident that had happened in the past. And besides, for all your bluster just now about what legends say about me, you _know_ differently. You know that Pokémon are only a few centuries old and that I am not the first, nor the original Pokémon. You know that Mew is the origin of all Pokémon."

"That's not important right now," Leaf interjected. "What's important is that we prevent those people in Europe from ever having been killed, plus any casualties inflicted by the Mortality Trees."

"I'm sorry but I cannot allow this," Arceus said, shaking its head again. "If the timeline is changed, Cyrus may succeed in his goals, for you stopped him by luck and because he was too eager to destroy this universe to make a plan other than come charging in to the Spear Pillar and going back to the Hall of Origin, using his forces to launch a decoy attack on the Sinjoh Ruins. What would happen if he had a better plan or more resources to throw at the attack on Spear Pillar?"

"There's no telling what may happen," Leaf admitted. "But without the destruction of Europe, Cyrus would not have had the window necessary for him to come down to Earth and attempt to destroy the universe with no one but us even attempting to put up a fight."

Arceus was taken aback by Leaf's statement but he had to admit that the girl made sense. Cyrus had merely taken advantage of a situation that was presented to him. Had Lysandre not destroyed Kalos, Cyrus would have had to fight his way past Earth's defenses directly. Even with the might of the Galactic Federation fleet behind him, that would have been a long, difficult, and bloody battle. And even then, there was no guarantee that he would have been victorious in a fight like that. He'd have to fight his way past the Jupiter and Martian Defense Perimeters before even making it to Earth. That would give United Earth and the Pokémon World's military forces plenty of time to mobilize and station soldiers, human and Pokémon alike, at vital points of interest. Cyrus would have to face the might of not only military soldiers, but highly skilled Pokémon Trainers and Masters, wild Pokémon as well as Legendary and Super Legendary Pokémon, some of which were planetary-level threats, all united with a single purpose, his demise.

"You make a good point," Arceus eventually conceded. "But still, there is another issue that must be dealt with."

"What's that?" Leaf asked.

"We still need the Creation Trio for this to work, for Dialga has control of time while Palkia has control of space. And there are other issues that will need to be worked out before we begin."

"What other issues?" Ash demanded. "You're a creation deity. This should be no trouble for you!"

"Listen, I know you think I'm some sort of god, but the truth is I'm not," Arceus explained to them.

"You still created Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina," Ash contested.

"So they say," Arceus answered. He then shook his head. "No, my DNA was merely used in order to create the Pokémon trio you refer to as the Creation Trio." Leaf's eyes flashed with realization as Arceus was confirming a theory she had had since she had started researching the history of Pokémon in earnest. Arceus soon continued, "And I was created using the DNA of the Legendary Pokémon Mew, as were all other Pokémon. Anyway, beyond that, while our powers are, indeed, great, especially since we were designed to be superweapons, we do have our limits."

"What are your limits?" Leaf asked.

"I could help engineer Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina on the Mystri Stage, but even then, as I said before, it would take time to identify how Lysandre knew about all of the threats to his plans and how he was able to deal with them so effectively. Also, I cannot create life from nothing. Only God can do that. There needs to be a base for something to be created so I could not bring back the people who died in Europe, or even repair all of Europe and remake into the condition it was in before the firing of the Ultimate Weapon without a base. Since many of the people had their bodies annihilated in the blast, most of them would have been unsalvageable even if I or another healing Pokémon had reached them the moment the blast had dissipated."

"What _can_ you do?" Leaf asked.

"If we work quickly, I could summon Dialga and Palkia here so we can send you back in time to a point where you could take down Lysandre," Arceus answered. "However, since this is spur of the moment, there's no guarantee that we'll take you to the correct location or even point in time."

"Can you at least summon them here?" Ash asked.

"I could," Arceus answered, nodding. "But we would only have a limited amount of time to find out where you needed to go for your best chance of taking down Lysandre before he manages to fire the Ultimate Weapon."

Ash nodded, but Leaf's mind soon began to race. She then looked at Arceus and asked, "Is it possible to destroy the Ultimate Weapon, itself?" she asked. "If we do that, Lysandre would not be able to use it to destroy Kalos, and Europe with it. He would at best be reduced to trying to use the Mortality Trio to try to destroy all lands the old-fashioned way, which would expose his evil and cause others to fight back."

"I don't think so," Ash answered for Arceus. "My Pokémon, along with Serena and Clemont's all attacked the Ultimate weapon at the same time. They used their strongest ranged attacks as well. The attacks did no damage to the weapon at all."

"With the power that the weapon had acquired, its defenses would easily be able to repel attacks from even a legion of non-Mega Evolved Pokémon," Arceus added.

"But what if we attacked it while it was powered down and/or used a Mega Evolved Pokémon?" Leaf asked.

"The weapon had been disabled in the past," Ash answered. "Still, Lysandre was able to bring it back to working order." He then looked at Leaf curiously. "Why are you wondering about attacking the Ultimate Weapon? You've never been squeamish about killing if it was absolutely necessary." The moment Ash made that statement, he began to wonder how he knew that fact about Leaf.

"Because I want to make sure no one else can use it," Leaf answered plainly. "I have every intention of making sure Lysandre dies when we go back in time. I just want to make sure that the Ultimate Weapon joins him." She then smashed her fist into her hand, the almost clapping-like sound jarring Ash.

"Oh," Ash answered almost sheepishly when he heard the girl's tone, and saw her dark smile, showing that she was almost eager to kill the Team Flare Boss, something that unnerved him. She merely glanced over at him and, seeing his unease, almost scoffed.

Arceus looked at her warily, sensing the toughness in the girl, but also fearing that it could, and would, quickly grow into darkness, if it had not already. He could tell that for Leaf, saving the lives in Europe was all that mattered. What no one, save for Leaf and her friends knew, though, was that she would not target or involve any innocent at all. Lysandre and Team Flare were her targets, her _only_ targets and her focus was directed solely at them.

After a few more moments, Arceus asked, "Is there anything else you wish from me before we do this?"

"Not that I can think of," Ash answered. "We should be ready to go."

Leaf also shook her head.

Arceus then said, "Okay then. It appears as if it is time." The Alpha Pokémon then lowered his head a bit before his eyes started to glow. As his eyes glowed, several large tablets suddenly appeared above him and then formed a ring around him. They then orbited the Pokémon as one of the plates, the Mind Plate, began to glow a bright pink. Arceus then absorbed the plate into himself and his cross wheel began to change color to match that of the Mind Plate's, indicating that he was now a Psychic-type Pokémon.

Arceus's eyes then glowed once more and he then looked into the sky, telepathically calling across realms to Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina. After a second, the Alpha Pokémon's eyes returned to normal and he looked over at Ash, Pikachu, and Leaf. "Now, all we can do is wait," he told them. "It should not take long for them to come."

Sure enough, a large, dark glowing sphere appeared in the sky only a few dozen meters away. The group turned and stared in wonder as the sphere appeared. Arceus looked back at the portal and saw a familiar figure emerging. A dark blue sarupod-like Pokémon with gray metallic portions on its body, a Pokémon that was not all that dissimilar to Arceus in appearance, stepped out of the portal, prompting Arceus to grimace. Ash and Arceus immediately recognized the Pokémon as Dialga, but Leaf had to look up the Pokémon on her Pokédex. Its entry came back, "Dialga, the Temporal Pokémon. It has the power to control time. It has appeared in Sinnoh-region myths as an ancient deity."

Arceus looked over at Dialga and nodded. The Temporal Pokémon, likewise, nodded back to Arceus. Arceus then waited for Palkia to appear, which it soon did. A pink portal soon appeared above thee group in the same location that Dialga's portal had appeared. Arceus looked up at the portal and gave a half smile. "So Palkia now comes," it stated matter-of-factly.

Indeed, a figure did emerge from the portal. Emerging from the portal was a theropod-like bipedal Pokémon with light purple skin, a gray underside, round purple striped plates on its shoulders with two round pink encrusted pearls, gauntlet-like formations on its arms, and a powerful tail. Palkia gave a loud cry as it emerged from the portal and its shoulder pears began to glow as it focused it gaze on the group, wondering why it had been summoned to Mount Coronet. It took one look at Dialga and glared at the Temporal Pokémon, growling as it met eyes with its nemesis. Dialga glared back at Palkia and gave a low growl in response.

"That's enough, you two," Arceus boomed. "You were not called here so you could continue your quarrel. Besides, I thought that argument ended almost three years ago."

The two Pokémon looked at Arceus and then back at each other and nodded in agreement. "Now, only one more member remains," Arceus said casually as he relaxed, waiting for Giratina to arrive.

The group did not have to wait long, for soon, another portal appeared in the sky above the group, prompting Arceus to look up and smile. "So the final member of the Creation Trio finally appears," he said softly.

As he was speaking, a new Legendary Pokémon emerged from the portal. This Pokémon was a large dark gray draconic Pokémon with gold half rings circling its neck and large wings with red spikes on them. It had no legs and the tail of a serpent until it fully emerged from the portal, where it grew six thick legs and softly landed on the ground and walked towards the group. It gave a soft rumble as it stared at Arceus and then swept its gaze across the party, recognizing Ash. It nodded towards the boy, giving what Ash thought was a smile. Ash smiled back at Giratina.

"It's been a while," the boy told the Pokémon. "I wish that it was under better circumstances."

Giratina gave a growl that prompted Leaf to take out her Pokédex and activate its translation software so she could glean what Giratina, as well as the other members of the Creation Trio, were saying. The Pokédex soon gave its translation in a low, masculine voice, "I've heard of the damage done to Europe. I will do whatever I can to help."

Hearing the translation from Leaf's Pokédex, Ash gave a gracious bow and answered, "Thank you, Giratina."

Before the conversation could continue, though, Arceus stepped into the center of the group and glanced at each of the Legendary Pokémon. The Mind Plate soon left his body and continued to orbit around him with the rest of the plates. "Thank you all for coming. We have much to discuss and do, and not a lot of time to do it." He then paused for a second before continuing, "You all know what just happened in Europe, do you not?"

Each of the Pokémon nodded. [We saw it. It was horrible] Dialga stated plainly. Dialga then paused before continuing, [And considering that you have summoned us here, chances are you think that it was preventable.]

"We think we have a means by which these events may be preventable," Arceus continued. "As we all know, Dialga can send people back in time, with Palkia being able to create rifts that can take someone from one place to another either in the same realm, or in entirely different realms. If, however, both powers were used in conjunction with each other, one could send someone back in time to a certain location. Ash, Leaf, and Pikachu wish to go back in time so they can stop Lysandre from firing the Ultimate Weapon in the first place, which would prevent Cyrus from getting the easy opening he needed in order to come down to Earth and create a new universe."

[How are you planning on stopping Lysandre?] Giratina asked.

"We'll arrive in his office and take him out," Leaf stated in a serious tone.

[So you plan on assassinating him,] Palkia translated.

"I wish there was another way, but we already know that Lysandre had been planning this for a while," Leaf explained. "He's evil to the core. If we don't stop him before he fires that weapon, one point two billion people are going to die. As of right now, one point two billion people _are_ dead. We're going to undo that event."

[And what about the Ultimate Weapon?] Giratina asked. [Even if Lysandre is killed, he has loyal subordinates, does he not?]

Ash and Leaf nodded. "One of them was Malva of the Kalos Elite Four," Ash informed the Legendaries. "She also controlled the media."

[Then that begs the question, what about the Ultimate Weapon?] Giratina continued. [How are you going to stop his subordinates from firing it? Will you simply kill them all? Can you kill them all? How many of them are there? Are you going to destroy the Ultimate Weapon? How will you destroy it? Can it be destroyed?]

"We know the issues with the plan," Leaf answered. "Still, it's the best we can come up with on such short notice." She then focused her gaze on Giratina. "Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated."

"We will be busy keeping track of you here," Arceus answered. "Still, you could try to call us in the past, if things go wrong."

"We will," Ash answered for Leaf.

[I have performed a cursory scan of the past and I think I may have found a time period where Ash and Leaf can confront Lysandre while he is relatively isolated at Team Flare's home base in Lysandre Labs,] Dialga informed the group.

[When is that?] Leaf asked.

[Approximately one year ago,] the Temporal Pokémon answered. [It's not too long after his plans for Zygarde were thwarted.]

"Then you've gotta take us there now," Ash exclaimed. Leaf nodded in agreement.

[Not so fast,] Dialga cautioned. [What will you do once you're there? You faced Lysandre once already and lost. What will be different if you face him now?]

"I'll be there," Leaf answered. "Ash was alone last time. Yes he had Serena and Clemont, but Clemont was a mid-tier Gym Leader and likely battling outside the base and Serena was merely a Pokémon Performer and idol, not a battler. Also, he had already battled against Malva as well as numerous Grunts. Here, if we're lucky, we'll be able to make a quick thrust towards Lysandre and bring a swift end to the mission."

[Yes, that was interesting, and troubling,] Dialga said distantly, though the teens caught what it had said. Still, they felt as if they had an opportunity to change a horrible event and they would not waste it.

"Together, Ash and I, along with our Pokémon friends, can defeat Lysandre and Team Flare before the travesty of yesterday. And even better is that we will be able to catch him completely off guard," Leaf added. "We will have two fully trained Pokémon teams going up against Lysandre and whatever Team Flare forces are at Lysandre Labs. It won't be like what happened in Kalos."

[All the same, be careful. Something still feels off about this,] the Legendary Pokémon cautioned.

"We will be," Ash assured the Temporal Pokémon.

Dialga then proceeded to open a portal inside its realm that allowed Leaf's Pokémon to join the two teens on the platform. Leaf then took out her Poké Balls and explained the situation to her team.

"Okay guys, we've found a way to avert the disaster in Kalos," she told them. "Dialga's going to send us back in time so we can take out Lysandre and Team Flare before they can use the Ultimate Weapon to destroy Kalos and Europe. Be ready to fight the moment we appear in the past, though. We have to be quick about this since I think we'll be on a time crunch, especially if we get caught flat-footed and Dialga has to bail us out."

[I'll also be sending you close to the entrance to the base, but not exactly where Lysandre is located,] Dialga added. [I need to be certain that you and your past selves don't interact and risk creating an alternate timeline. If that is done, then this will all be for naught, at least for this timeline.]

"Understood," Ash and Leaf answered. "I was not in Kalos a year ago."

"And I was busy in Unova participating in the World Tournament," Leaf added.

"Where will you be sending us?" Ash then asked.

[I'll deposit you in Magenta Plaza, not far from Lysandre Café. That will give you a chance of entering while looking like normal bystanders, rather than two Trainers out to take down Team Flare.]

The teens nodded and Leaf went about returning her Pokémon to their Poké Balls, wanting Dialga to expend as little energy getting them to the past as possible so that they could be called back once they were successful. Still, a part of her was a little uneasy about going back and forth through time.

"You'll be able to bring us all back once the mission is accomplished or if we need to be brought back due to unforeseen circumstances, right?" Leaf inquired.

[Yes,] the Pokémon answered in no uncertain terms, nodding. [We'll also be monitoring the situation back there should things go wrong. If they do, we'll get you out of there immediately.]

"Okay then, let's do this," Leaf stated as she looked over at Dialga.

[Are you ready?] the Pokémon asked.

Both Ash and Leaf nodded, as did Pikachu, Pikachu giving out a little, "Pika," as he clenched his fingers into fists, prompting Ash to smile. Leaf also looked over at Pikachu and gave a half smile as she then turned her gaze towards Ash. She smiled and then steeled herself, drawing out one of her Ray Guns on the chance that there was trouble the moment they appeared in the past and they would have to fight before being able to deploy their Pokémon. She then took out her other Ray Gun and went to hand it over to Ash.

"Ash, take this," she said, offering him the weapon. "If we get into a firefight the moment we appear there, we'll need every weapon we've got."

Ash shook his head. "I don't know how to use a gun," he answered, rejecting her offering. This prompted her to frown.

"Ash, we're only going to get one chance at this. We'll need everyone to be combat ready," she told him forcefully.

"But I don't know how to shoot," he countered.

"It's simple," Leaf told him. "This is an energy weapon. It has no recoil. It's a point and shoot weapon. Don't try to adjust for recoil."

"I still think it's better that I not use an unfamiliar weapon on the chance that I could do more harm than good."

Leaf could not argue that point, but she was a little disappointed that Ash seemed to have the same issues that Serena did. He was not a fighter, not like she or some of the other young League Champions like Ethan, Hilda, or Hilbert were. Still, there was little point in arguing with him. They had to go and she would prefer that they get it done quickly. When she was ready, she looked over at Dialga and nodded. After she nodded, Dialga's eyes then flashed and she, Ash, and Pikachu vanished from the Spear Pillar, leaving no trace of them ever having been there. Once the teens and Pikachu had departed, Arceus and the Creation Trio, themselves, left the Spear Pillar, rocketing off towards the Sinjoh Ruins in the hopes of joining the fight soon enough for them to make a difference.

Over in the Sinjoh Ruins, Cynthia and the others were mopping up the remains of the Team Galactic forces that had launched their attack on the temple. The primary airship that had led the assault had been destroyed in the opening moments of the battle and she suspected that much, if not all, of the Team Galactic leadership had died in that ship's demise. Still, the remaining Grunts and Scientists were unwilling to retreat, despite the fact that the battle was already over, though they had yet to learn the fates of Cyrus and his assault force. The remaining Scientists sent out a Porygon 2, Kirlia, and two Kadabras to initiate a battle.

Cynthia could only laugh as she looked over at the gaseous Spiritomb and told it, "Spiritomb, deal with the Scientists' Pokémon."

Spiritomb did as she commanded and fired off a volley of Dark Pulses at the Scientists' Pokémon, felling each of them with single hits. Each hit sent the enemy Pokémon flying through the air, the Pokémon crashing to the ground, swirls appearing in their eyes, signifying that they had fainted. Spiritomb then used Psychic to choke the three Scientists into unconsciousness, lifting them off the ground until they lost consciousness due to lack of air, the Pokémon then mercifully letting them back down on the ground once they were unconscious.

As for the others, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong tossed a couple of Orange Grenades into the midst of a group of Team Galactic Grunts and their Croagunks. The grenades exploded, killing several of the Grunts and either killing or severely injuring the Croagunks. A couple of Golbats then tried to use Confuse Ray on the Kongs, only for May and Dawn to have Glaceon and Mamoswine use Ice Beam and Ice Shard, respectively, to take down the bat-like Pokémon. May's Blaziken, Ethan's Typhlosion, and Dawn's Piplup then finished off the Grunts with Overheat, Fire Blast, and Hydro Pump, respectively, either incinerating them or sending them flowing down the path in a deluge of water. In less than five minutes, the last of the Grunts had been defeated.

With the last of the Grunts having fallen or washed away from the Sinjoh Ruins, Cynthia glanced around at the scene and went to make sure that the others were okay. Captain Falcon gave a salute, showing that he was okay. Ethan, May, Dawn, and their Pokémon also gave waves and cries, indicating that they were unhurt, too. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong then waved to Cynthia and Captain Falcon to let them know that they were okay, too.

"Excellent," Cynthia said in satisfaction as she looked around at the scene. "It's done."

She then went to dial her phone to check on Ash and Leaf, wanting to let them know that the Team Galactic presence at the Sinjoh Ruins had been dealt with and to see if they needed help since she suspected that Cyrus had gone to attack Spear Pillar. She was surprised when the number came back as being out of service. That was when Spiritomb looked into the distance and saw series of blue energy balls seemingly being launched into the sky. It then contacted Cynthia to alert her to the situation. Cynthia looked into the distance and saw the energy balls rising into the air. Spiritomb asked Cynthia a question, which her Pokédex translated into, [Are there any planetary defense cannons in the area?]

Cynthia took out a datapad to check the locations of the planetary defensive cannons and she saw that there were none in the area. She then looked back at Spiritomb and answered, "No, there aren't."

Ethan, who had overheard Cynthia's conversation with Spiritomb, looked over at his Espeon and told it, "Espeon, try to get a scan of the energy balls in the distance that are rising up into orbit. See if you can sense anything strange emanating from them."

Espeon nodded and then extended its psychic senses to try to get a feel for the energy balls. Much to its surprise, though, it could not sense anything. It tried to scan them again, only for its scan to come up negative once more. The energy must have been laced with Dark-type energy. It then relayed what it had sensed, or not sensed, to Ethan. Ethan's eyes went wide and he then began to grow troubled and relayed what Espeon had just told him.

"Hey Cynthia, we may have a problem," he called over to her.

"What is it?" the Sinnoh League Champion replied.

"Espeon just tried to scan those energy balls to see if there was anything strange about them. Well, there was. He couldn't sense _anything_ coming from those energy balls at all. It's as if they were either made from or laced with Dark-type energy."

Cynthia's face then went aghast, realizing that there was only one way those energy balls would not be able to be detected by a Psychic-type Pokémon. "Oh no," she said distantly, in dread.

"What is it?" Dawn asked as she came over to see what was troubling Ethan and Cynthia.

"I think we just discovered the true purpose of those Mortality Trees," Cynthia answered ominously. "So this was Lysandre's fallback plan," she muttered, knowing that she, and the rest of the world, did not have long to live unless a miracle happened.

Back at the Spear Pillar, Arceus and the Creation Trio looked off into the distance and saw the energy balls rising into the sky. Unlike Espeon, who was a Psychic-type Pokémon, Arceus and the others were able to get a scan of the energy. It was worse than anything they could have imagined. It was identical to the energy emitted by the Ultimate Weapon when it fired.

[Arceus, are you sensing this?] Dialga asked.

The Alpha Pokémon nodded. "It is identical to the energy unleashed by the Ultimate Weapon," he answered ominously.

The Pokémon then looked off into the distance and saw even more energy balls shooting into the sky as if they were meteors, only in reverse. More and more energy balls rose into the air. As they scanned the balls, they quickly realized that each one had the power to wipe an entire continent of all life at the very least, with at least a few being threats to the entire planet. Arceus then extended his senses into orbit and sensed that there were over a hundred energy balls in orbit.

That was when the Pokémon realized that everything had been for naught. There were enough energy balls in orbit to wipe the Earth of life ten times over. And even Arceus did not have the power to stop _all_ of the balls from hitting the Earth. It did not matter what had happened with Cyrus, for the Mortality Trees had been Lysandre's fallback plan should the Ultimate Weapon fail. It was likely that all organic matter could very well have been regressed to original primordial soup that had originally birthed life on Earth.

The Pokémon then watched as the energy blasts fell back to Earth, Dialga and Palkia teleported the group to Dialga's realm, Dialga freezing the moment so that they would be able to escape safely. Once they had entered the realm, time was unfrozen on the outside, though it would hopefully not come to that with Ash and Leaf traveling to the past. In addition, time was frozen at the moment that they had left since Dialga's realm was in another realm, one that Dialga had complete control of. Once they arrived, all they could do was pray that Ash and Leaf were successful in stopping Lysandre before he could carry out any of his plans.

Meanwhile, over on the world of Hylia, high in the sky, John approached the Star Haven sanctuary, the location of the Star Rod. When he arrived, he quickly decelerated and descended touching the skiff down close to the palace that he knew housed the Star Rod, an item that, like the Triforce, could also grant wishes. He hoped that the Star Spirits would be willing to part with it, but on the likelihood that they would not, he only had absolute need for one wish to be made. Still, the wish would be tricky and he prayed that it could actually be done, for if it was not, then over a billion people would be consigned to death.

Once the skiff touched down, John immediately jumped off of it and landed softly on the ground, heading straight for the palace. As he approached, the crystal doors to the palace opened and a yellow star with gray bushy eyebrows and a bushy mustache floated towards him. John recognized the star as Eldstar, the chief of the Star Spirits in Star Haven and the keeper of the Star Rod. John made no aggressive moves as Eldstar approached.

"I know why you have come," Eldstar proclaimed as he approached the human. "The fact that you are here as your own person and not on the orders of Master Hand or Ganondorf is the only reason why we allowed you to land."

"Then you know what has happened on Earth," John answered, his voice muffled due to his helmet.

Eldstar nodded. "What you seek cannot be granted by the Star Rod," he told John plainly. "Undoing an event that has already taken place without creating a new timeline is impossible, even for the Star Rod, even for both the Triforce and the Star Rod working in unison. It would be like if someone in a performance that was being recorded on a cassette tape made a mistake. Granted, they could go back and do the performance over again, without the mistake, and even go back on the cassette and record over the performance, but the performance with the mistake would still exist since it was still performed. The deaths of those billion plus people will have still taken place in some way or form. And if their bodies are destroyed, then there is no way short of an act of The One Above All to bring them back."

"Which is why my plan involves making certain that the incident never occurred in the first place," John stated.

"But that is impossible," Eldstar answered. "The only possible way for that to occur is for someone from the past to have seen these events unfold, either as a dream or through time travel to the future and then go and keep them from happening."

"Which is exactly what must be done," John said, grinning.

"But even if you can do that, you must do everything you can to make sure that these events aren't done by you, alone, due to the fact that you would be affecting your own past. From what I know of your world, only one creature has that capability, Celebi."

"Unfortunately, Celebi is quite timid and does not come to turbulent time periods. However, there is one other that can help," John stated.

"Who would that be?"

"Mewtwo," John answered. "On the eve of the Galactic Federation Civil War, Mewtwo was taken into a strange realm called the Warp Zone, a place outside of time and space; a place where the events that have happened in the last two years are still just a vision of things to come."

"But you would still have to bring him to your time from the Warp Zone and then send him back," Eldstar stated.

"Dialga and Palkia can assist me with that," John stated. "But I'll still need the help of the Star Rod to take me to Dialga's Realm. I would also like to have it with me as insurance for my plan, on the chance that Dialga and Palkia can't do this alone."

"And if your plan works, then the Star Rod will have never left Star Haven," Eldstar surmised.

"Correct," John confirmed.

"Very well then, you may take the Star Rod," Eldstar said, bowing. "Come with me."

John then followed Eldstar into the palace, walking along the path that led to a pedestal that contained the Star Rod, a wand with a golden star as his head, hovering only a few inches above it. The human approached the Star Rod and once he reached it, he touched it and made his wish: to be taken to Dialga's realm.

Upon making his wish, the head of the Star Rod glowed and the man was engulfed in a bright light. Eldstar had seen this sight before, but this time, it was a good person making a wish on the Star Rod. And sure enough, the wish came true and by the time the light faded, there was no trace of John left in Star Haven.

As for John, he reappeared inside a realm with a mottled purple sky. Lightning flashed in the distance, with distant booms of thunder sounding several seconds after the lightning flashed. Looking around, he also found several ethereal clocks hovering in the air. He could only grin. The Star Rod had granted his wish. He was in Dialga's Realm. Now all he had to do was get to work finding Dialga so he could convince the Super Legendary Pokémon to help him carry out his plan.

It did not take him long to find Dialga, for the dark blue sarupod-like Pokémon that was not all that dissimilar to Arceus in appearance stood before him as he looked up. The Pokémon gave a roar that forced John to take out his Pokédex to translate. The translation came back, [Who are you, what do you want, why are you here, how did toy get here, and why should I not erase you right here and now?] It was clear that Dialga was not in a good mood.

"I am here to prevent the tragedy that occurred on Earth," John answered. "For that, I'll need your help, as well as the help of Palkia at the very least, and likely even Giratina and Arceus, too."

Dialga's gaze narrowed on John. [I'm listening.]

Meanwhile, Ash, Leaf, and Pikachu reappeared in the middle of Magenta Plaza in Lumiose City in the past. They touched down on the ground as if they had jumped off of a small step, their legs flexing and knees bending a bit as they touched down. Ash and Pikachu looked around the plaza and saw that it was completely deserted, something that surprised them. Leaf did not like the looks of this. It was quiet, too quiet. She quickly took out Starmie and Chandelure's Poké Balls and opened them, letting them out. When the Pokémon emerged, she told them, "Scan the area. We need to know if you can…" but Leaf never got the chance to finish her sentence before a brilliant floodlight shined down on her and Ash. As such, the Pokémon's answer of, _There is a great enemy force converging on this position_ , came too late.

What looked to be an entire legion of Team Flare Grunts flowed from the alleyways and opening of the Lysandre Café, as well as from other buildings inside the plaza. The two teens also heard the sound of helicopters approaching, adding more issues to the situation. They turned their gaze forward and saw the four female Team Flare Scientists standing in front of the assault force, armed not only with Poké Balls, but also carrying firearms. Their eyes were soon drawn above the Team Flare forces and they saw the three Malamars floating above them. Both teens gritted their teeth.

"Crud," Ash seethed. " _They're_ here."

"How did they find out about this?" Leaf murmured, almost in shock.

The Malamars leered down at the teens and gave an answer. [Did you think you could catch us off guard like this?] they mocked. [You may be smart, but we have capabilities beyond even your own comprehension.]

Ash and Leaf seethed again. It was then that one of the scientists, Bryony, stepped out and offered the ultimatum. "Ash and Leaf, surrender now and your lives may, I repeat, _may_ , be spared. If not, this will be your grave."

"You above all people should know that a battle here will draw the attention of the police, as well as Professor Sycamore and other Pokémon Trainers," Leaf countered.

"Lysandre owns the police force of Lumiose City," Bryony countered. "And besides, you're here to kill him despite the fact that he has not committed a real crime just yet. Preemptive strikes won't fly for you."

Leaf's eyes flashed. It was one thing to know that they were coming, but another to know that they were planning to kill Lysandre directly. How did they know this? She looked up at the Malamars and wondered if they had scanned them. But even if they did so, Bryony indicated that they had known that they were coming _before_ they had actually arrived. How could they have known about their coming when they had only come up with the plan _after_ Team Flare had died in the destruction of Kalos?

The two teens took a look at the situation to see if there was anything they could do. Seeing dozens of Team Flare Grunts coming towards them, they knew that it was a virtually hopeless situation. "Dialga, get us out of here!" Leaf cried at the top of her lungs. "Get us out of here now! It's a trap!"

Nothing happened. Dread began to enter the teens' hearts as the Team Flare Grunts deployed their Pokémon, mostly consisting of Golbats, Scraggys, Electrikes, Manectrics, and Houndours. They could see them beginning to power their attacks, prompting Pikachu, Chandelure, and Starmie to do the same. At least they would take out a number of enemies before they fell, and if they took out enough blocking a single path, then there may have been an avenue of escape. Still, Leaf did not want to risk having to engage an army. Still, it appeared as if the group did not have much of a choice. As such, Ash deployed his Pokémon and they decided that at the very least, they would not go down without a fight. Pikachu also jumped off of Ash's shoulders, his cheeks crackling with electricity as he prepared for battle.

"Dialga, can you hear me? We fell into a trap! Get us out of here now!" the girl cried again as the enemy forces approached.

This time, Dialga must have heard her calls, for the ground beneath the teens and their Pokémon suddenly became like light and they could feel a rush of wind coming from beneath them. Looking over at the Flares, they saw the Grunts and their Pokémon covering their eyes and looking away. Soon, columns of light rose from the now light platform beneath them and they began to rise into the air. Crystals then began to form around the teens and their Pokémon and they were soon encased in what looked to be energy crystals as a high-pitched ringing began to sound. They then spun through the air and as the high-pitched sound became higher, it eventually became fainter as they spun around faster before being warped away from the scene, leaving no evidence of their presence behind.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22:

Ash, Leaf, Pikachu, and their Pokémon friends reappeared in what looked to be the middle of a dark realm. The warp crystal lowered them to the ground that looked to be purple and deposited them a few inches above it, where it dispersed and allowed them to touch down on the solid, almost marble-like ground. Once they touched down on the ground, they looked around at their surroundings and quickly realized that they were not on Earth anymore, for the sky looked to be a mottled purple and black sky with lightning lacing it. There also looked to be energy constructs in the shapes of clocks in the sky. As far as they could see, there were no physical structures, and they appeared to be alone. At least they did not seem to be in the middle of a battle.

"Where are we?" Ash asked, looking around at his surroundings and not recognizing anything at all. He had been to many strange places and even realms such as the Distortion World, but this was different from any place he had been before.

"I don't know," Leaf answered. She had not been to the same fantastical realms that Ash had visited in his journey, she had encountered Legendary Pokémon before and she knew that there was something different about this realm. They were not simply not on Earth anymore; they were likely outside of the universe that they had previously inhabited.

"You're in Dialga's realm," they heard an almost muffled masculine voice crackle from behind.

They turned around and saw a man, John, dressed in a black bodysuit with a black helmet with an orange visor that obscured the man's face. He was armed with a pulse energy rifle that was slung over his shoulder and he held a wand with a star-shaped head in his hand. To the teens, he looked like a Galactic Federation Stealth Marine. It took them a moment to register that he had told them where they currently were.

"Dialga's Realm?" Ash asked. "How did we end up here?"

"And why?" Leaf asked almost in echo.

"I used the Star Rod to bring you here," John answered. "As for the why, well, we'll discuss that once we get to the Creation Trio and Arceus. We've found some things that may be able to help us save the Earth, for it needs saving now more than ever. It's fortunate that I came to this place and that Dialga has allowed me to stay. His realm is outside of space and time, so no time passes here, compared to the outside universe. Don't get me wrong, though, you can still age here and die of old age if you stay here for a century or more with no time having passed back on Earth." His tone did not indicate any humor, but the teens were not in any mood for anything that resembled jokes, given the situation back on Earth. "Either way, we should probably get going. I'd rather not spend more time here than needed. Things are really bad."

"How bad are they?" Ash asked.

"Everything on Earth is about to die, bad," John answered succinctly.

The teens nodded and followed John, who kept a brisk pace. He was almost certainly a soldier, though Leaf could not shake the feeling that she knew him from somewhere. His voice, though muffled by the microphone inside his helmet, sounded familiar and she would not be surprised if he had been a relatively recent acquaintance of hers.

Eventually, the group reached the Creation Trio and Arceus. When the Pokémon saw the teens approach along with John, they rushed over to them. "Ash, Leaf, you made it," Arceus exclaimed.

"Barely," Leaf answered. She then sighed before continuing. "It was a setup. Lysandre knew we were coming and he was waiting for us." She then looked over at Dialga, who seemed to have a relieved look on its face. "Not to be rude, but what kept you? We were almost killed back there."

[Lysandre had a fallback plan should the Ultimate Weapon be destroyed and his original plan fail,] Dialga answered. [As it turns out, the Mortality Trees were makeshift Ultimate Weapons, most of them having drawn enough energy to destroy all life on Earth.]

Ash and Leaf gasped at the revelation. "From what I could sense before we fled to Dialga's Realm, chances are that once those blasts hit, all life will be reduced to the primordial soup that it emerged from over a billion years ago," Arceus explained. "There were over a hundred known Mortality Trees that had fired by the time we left. I know that the Champions and the Kongs managed to destroy five of them."

Ash began to seethe before sighing in resignation. There was nothing that could have been done. Even if he had stopped the Ultimate Weapon, all Lysandre really needed was one of the Mortality Trees to blossom and fire off its energy. Even Leaf looked glumly at the ground. Everything had been in vain. Lysandre had a fallback plan. Heck, he probably had a fallback plan to his fallback plan. He had planned everything perfectly so that literally all paths led to victory, even if he died.

"Don't give up hope, yet, kids," John assured them. "That's why we brought you here?"

"We?" Ash asked.

"Why, the Creation Trio and I, of course," John answered. "We've been attempting to find a way to undo the recent events that occurred in Kalos that resulted in its destruction, along with that of Europe, as well as several Chosen Heroes."

"Chosen Heroes?" Ash asked.

"Everyone in all of creation has a destiny. They are, of course, free to follow their destiny, or choose a different path, but some destinies carry a great deal of importance," John explained. "Some people are destined to simply be in the background, never really being known, though their actions can help others achieve greatness that, without their help, would not be possible. Others are called to do great things that will make them famous. Yet a select few are called to be more than other people. They are selected to do tremendous things that can shape what is to come and/or become great heroes that will save many lives, if not entire species. Think of religious figures or great historical military figures. These people had great destinies that shaped human history, and in some cases, saved the whole of humanity. Well, there are an unusually large number of Chosen Heroes from Earth at the moment at this point in time."

"Excuse me, mister…" Ash began.

"John," came the answer. "You may call me John."

"John, sir, but what does this have to do with us?" Ash asked.

"You, Leaf, and the others listed on this datapad are all Chosen Heroes. You have a destiny that will affect the shape of things to come."

He then showed Ash the datapad, but the boy merely looked down at the ground glumly. The man cocked his head and turned to gaze at the boy. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

Ash nodded, doing his best to hold back tears. "I'm a failure," he said quietly.

"What are you talking about?" John asked.

"I failed to save Kalos. I failed to save Serena," Ash answered. "One point two billion people are dead along with the rest of the world in a few seconds if that, all because I failed to stop Lysandre!"

"You think stopping Lysandre was your destiny?" John asked, eyeing the boy.

Ash looked up at John in surprise. "Wasn't it?" he asked.

John shook his head. "Not yours," he answered. "Your destiny is, or was, to stop Team Rocket. Leaf seems to have taken over that task, though it was supposed to have been the two of you together stopping them. No, it was Calem and Serena's destiny to stop Team Flare."

"How do you know this?" Leaf asked, stepping forward, joining Ash.

"Pi-ka! Pikachu!" Pikachu asked in echo.

"Simple," John answered. "I saw it." He then directed Ash to look around at the area. "This is Dialga's realm, but this wasn't the only area that could show history, how it was, and how it should be. Back in Smash World we have monitors that show events that occur all around the universe. And they don't just show current events. They can pick up on a single person and show his or her destiny. That is partially how we are able to find and indentify Chosen Heroes."

"We?" Ash and Leaf asked in unison.

"Pika?" Pikachu echoed.

"My associate and I," the man answered. "It's mainly just the two of us at the moment. James is back on Smash World so it's just us at the moment."

"James?" Ash inquired.

"James McCloud, the former leader of the Star Fox Team."

"But he's dead," Leaf blurted.

"That's what the galaxy thinks, too," the man answered. "And we're doing our best to keep it that way. Even my superiors don't know of his survival. Anyway, that's not important at the moment, let's get back to the task at hand."

Ash nodded. "Your machines can see a person's destiny?" Ash asked.

John nodded. "That's what they were designed to do. Energy from numerous magical relics was used in their construction, as well as energy from Dialga. They were originally designed to find and identify threats so that they could be neutralized. The original builders had already identified several threats due to certain events that had unfolded quite some time ago, but they also identified several threats that the events had not revealed. The machines were able to identify them. James and I, however, with some help, were able to capture them and use them to help us identify and keep watch over Chosen Heroes. It was only after the first Team Flare incident that we used it to identify and keep track of potential villains as well."

"Villains like Lysandre?" Leaf asked.

John nodded. "Some villains, however, were able to keep a low enough profile that they were not discovered until it was too late."

"And over a billion people in Kalos and the rest of Europe paid the price, for my failure," Ash lamented.

"You did what you could, Ash," John told him, trying to comfort the boy, who was barely able to hold back tears. "Lysandre knew what was coming. You were fighting someone who knew your plans, knew how you'd come at him, and had taken precautions against your assault. The fact that you were able to depower the Ultimate Weapon enough so that it only destroyed Europe came as a pleasant surprise."

"Did you see the destruction of Kalos and Europe?" Ash blurted. "It certainly looked like Lysandre succeeded to me."

John hesitated before lowering his head. "Yes, I saw it," he eventually answered. "Both before and after the fact. I saw it as one of several likely outcomes."

"Then why didn't you do anything to stop it?" Ash cried. "Serena's dead! Clemont and Bonnie are dead! Everyone on Earth is about to die! You have all this technology and you couldn't do anything to stop it? You say this place is outside of space and time so why not warn our past selves of what is to come?"

"It's not that simple," John answered.

"Why not?" Ash asked.

"Because the event has already occurred for you," came the answer in a far more even tone than the teens or Pikachu would have expected. "We may be outside of space and time right now, but I wasn't always. I was on other missions for my master. And when I was not on call, I went to Earth trying to identify the threat. That's why I contacted Leaf, Captain Falcon, Donkey Kong, and Diddy Kong. I wanted to get ahead of the game, identify the threat and, hopefully, stop it before its objectives were completed. Sadly, things did not turn out as I hoped. In addition, two Elvanheim, also known as Magic Lords, made a play for Earth's destruction shortly before the Galactic Federation Civil War began. They may have been banished to another realm but they are still there. I initially thought that the threat would come from them. I had no idea it was Lysandre until you defeated him the first time."

"Still didn't do much good for Kalos," Ash lamented quietly.

"And even then, we thought that Lysandre was defeated the first time when you and your friends stopped him a year and a half earlier," John added. "Anyway, we've been spending the last day, according to 'time' in this realm, trying to figure out a way to try to undo the events of Kalos," John continued.

"Why not just send us back in time and have us take out Lysandre before any of this happens?" Leaf asked.

"Didn't you already try that?"

"Yes, but now we know that he's waiting for us, you can use your machines to find a point in time where he won't be expecting us, have Dialga send us back there to take him out, and all our problems will be solved," Leaf answered.

"That still is not likely to work," John told them.

"Why not?" Ash asked.

"Because by doing so you risk creating an alternate timeline," John answered. "I've already tried to use a powerful magical relic to undo the events and, failing that, undo the damage. That relic, the Triforce, was created by god-like beings on the level of Arceus, but the relic was not powerful enough to undo the damage, which means one of two things: one, that this is a focal point in time. Or two that someone else us using another relic of similar power to prevent the timeline from being changed."

"You mentioned a focal point in time," Ash noted, thinking back to John's first supposition. "What's that?" He had a feeling that he knew what it was, but he doubted that such a thing existed.

"A focal point in time is a point in time where all points and alternate timelines lead to a single point. These points can consist of the appearance of sentient life on the world, the manifestation of God to a society, truly important events that could lead to a world's salvation, etcetera. These are things that cannot be undone by powerful magical relics capable of altering time or reality, such as the Triforce or the Star Rod that I currently hold in my hand. If the destruction of Kalos was a focal point, then it would be highly difficult to undo," John explained. "Still, I do believe that we may have a way to undo the destruction of Kalos and Europe. However, the method we're going to use will be complicated and a lot of things will have to go right."

"What do we have to do?" Ash asked.

"First off, you need to see this?" John answered.

"See what?" the teens asked.

"A promising lead for our quest," came John's answer. He then motioned for the group to look around. All around the realm were a series of holographic images that seemed to be depicting a wide variety events. The group recognized several of the images as being images of the battle taking place in the Sinjoh Ruins as well as being the images of Team Galactic agents at Mount Coronet using the Red Chain on Dialga and Palkia. They also noticed several images of Lysandre, Team Flare, and the Malamars. The teens could only look on in wonder as their gazes were drawn to various holograms. The image right in front of them was that of Lysandre.

"James stumbled across this scene two days ago," John explained. "I would have come to you then but I've been studying the scene and the events portrayed in it, as well as the events that come after, ever since, as well as making preparations for what must be done on my own. It will give you an idea of why undoing this event will be difficult and why our window may be limited."

[I had recently just found this pertinent information that will help us find out where, and even when, we have to go in order to prevent Lysandre from destroying Kalos, and later the world,] Dialga added. [I did not know how pertinent it would be until the destruction of Kalos, and the world, actually occurred. Do you wish to see it?] the Pokémon asked. [The recording will be difficult to watch in places,] he warned.

Both Ash and Leaf nodded. "Do it," Ash told Dialga. "We have to know what happened if we are to stop it."

Dialga nodded. [Then I will begin the presentation. Do know, though, that parts of it will be difficult to watch.]

Ash and Leaf nodded again. As they did so, the world seemed to disappear, only to be replaced by a scene of Lysandre standing inside the Lysandre Café meeting with two other individuals, both of who Ash recognized as Argus and Millis Steel. Argus was a legendary thief that Ash had run across during his adventure. Millis was his daughter and while she was not as legendary as he was, she was no less dangerous. They seemed to have eventually turned over a new leaf after having been petrified by Yveltal's Oblivion Wing and later being revived by Xerneas, though, so Ash figured that this took place before his encounter with them. The group then proceeded to watch the scene and listen carefully to what was said.

A man and a teenaged girl were making their way over to a café with an orange roof. Ash recognized the man and girl as Argus and Millis Steel, and the café as the Lysandre Café, the entryway to Lysandre Labs. The duo entered the Lysandre Café, the door closing behind them with an attendant proceeding to turn the 'open' sign to its 'closed' side and lock the door. Aside from the attendant and the thieves, it appeared as if the café was deserted save for a couple people working the counter. Looking across the room, they were promptly met by Lysandre, himself. He was holding a briefcase in his hand. When he saw the two thieves, he glowered at them.

"So, do you have it?" they heard him ask succinctly as he stared at the two thieves, holding a briefcase in his right hand.

"You have the money?" Argus retorted.

Lysandre went over to a table, placed the briefcase on it, and opened it. "One billion Poké Dollars, as promised."

Argus and Millis went over to the briefcase and when they saw the money, Poké Dollar sighs practically lit up in their eyes. "My gosh! We could buy a small moon with this," Millis exclaimed, looking up at her father.

"Only if it was claimed by the Pokémon World," Argus retorted.

Lysandre then shut the briefcase hard, almost closing it on the teenaged girl's fingers, who had almost miraculously withdrawn them from the money in time. "Hey, what was that for?" the girl blurted. Leaf chuckled at the scene.

"Do you have what you promised?" Lysandre asked in an even tone, though his expression left no doubt as to what would happen to the Steels if they tried to take the money and run without giving him what he asked for, or if they tried to cheat him.

"Right here," Argus answered, reaching into his pocket, prompting one of the workers at the bar to reach underneath it and grip a hidden pistol. Lysandre's expression did not change as the thief reached into his pocket. He knew that he could stop the two of them if they tried to either cheat him or worse. The thief then took his hand out, producing a single Poké Ball with a gold top half and a white bottom half with the letters G and S inscribed on the top half. "The GS Ball, just as we promised."

Ash's eyes lit up in shock. "It's the GS Ball," he murmured.

Leaf looked over at him quizzically. "What's the GS Ball?"

"It was a gold and white Poké Ball with the letters G and S on it that Professor Ivy of Valencia Island had come into possession of," Ash explained. "It was impossible to open, and Professor Ivy tried everything from drills to lasers. I also tried to open it by calling out whatever Pokémon was inside. Nothing worked."

They then felt John tap them on the shoulders as he directed their attention back to the scene playing on the holographic image.

"Open it," Lysandre ordered the two thieves.

Argus then put his finger on the ball's button in its center and tried to open it, likely to release whatever was inside the ball. Much to his surprise, the ball did not open when he pushed the button. He looked down at the ball questioningly. He pushed its button again, but again, nothing happened. He looked at Lysandre worriedly.

"I can't," he told the tall founder of Lysandre Labs and the leader of the burgeoning Team Flare.

"What?" Millis blurted, grabbing the GS Ball. She pushed the button as well, but it would not open. She then tried to pry it loose in order to open it, hoping to be able to prove that she and her father had, indeed, retrieved the GS Ball as required for their billion Poké Dollar payday. Try as she might, though, she was unable to do so. "Dad, get Honedge out here to open it," she suggested.

"That won't be necessary," Lysandre interjected. The two thieves looked over at him. "Give me the ball."

Millis then tossed the ball over to Lysandre, who caught it with the ease of a professional baseball player. He then took a tablet-like device out of his pocket and activated it. Several beams of light were emitted from the device and poured over the GS Ball. Lysandre then smiled. "It's genuine. Take your money and go. The combination to the briefcase is one zero one seven."

Argus input the code and the briefcase opened just as it should have. The Steels grinned. "Money money money money muh-nee. Money! Oh yeah!" Millis sang. They did not ask any questions when Lysandre took the ball. They just took the money and left the café, one billion Poké Dollars richer.

Meanwhile, Lysandre looked over at the two workers at the bar and told them, "Open the café back up and keep watch. I'll be downstairs opening the GS Ball."

"Can it be opened sir?" the woman behind the counter asked.

"Yes," Lysandre answered, nodding. "All that is needed are the right tools." He then retreated to the labs behind the china cabinet. As he went down to the lab, he grinned. He would open the GS Ball and reveal its secret. And then, he would have the keys to ensuring that his dreams would be fulfilled, no matter who tried to stop him.

The scene then shifted to the interior of Lysandre Labs. They watched as Lysandre headed over to a large machine that looked like it had lasers, welding and cutting torches, as well as the backpack machine that he had worn when he had fought Ash in Team Flare's Secret Headquarters in Geosenge Town. Standing by his side were Xerosic and two Team Flare Admins. The first thing he did was place the GS Ball in a round slot in a tray placed in the center of a table, two antennae-like projectors pointing down on it.

"Is everything ready?" he asked.

"It is," Xerosic answered.

"Excellent, then let's begin."

With that, Lysandre went over and put on his backpack and proceeded to begin the process of opening the GS Ball. Turning several knobs on the machine, he watched as electricity began to arc around the projectors, eventually being channeled down towards the ends of the projectors. The projectors then fired the electricity onto the GS Ball. Once electricity was arcing across the GS Ball, Lysandre looked over to Xerosic and called, "Now, call out your Inkay!"

Xerosic nodded and called, "Inkay, go!"

He tossed his Poké Ball into the air and it opened, revealing Inkay, who floated next to the Team Flare Scientist. With Inkay out, Lysandre then commanded, "Xerosic, have your Inkay use Psychic to open the GS Ball. With the specialized electricity gathered from energy from the Mega Stones we have collected, we should be able to open that Poké Ball and reveal the Celebi inside."

Ash and Leaf cast quick quizzical glances at one another. "Celebi?" Ash blurted. He had met more than one Celebi before, or at least, he _thought_ that the two Celebis that he had met were two different Celebis.

They continued to watch as Xerosic then commanded, "Inkay, use Psychic on the GS Ball. Help us open it."

The Inkay bobbed up and down and, without a sound, its eyes began to glow as it used Psychic on the GS Ball. A blue field of psychic energy appeared around the ball and soon, a crack of light appeared in the center of the ball, right where it would appear if the ball were opening. The crack soon became wider and it was apparent that the Inkay's Psychic was having an effect as the ball was being pried open. Eventually, the ball was pried open, splitting completely in half, and a blue blob of energy emerged from the ball, eventually forming into Celebi, a green pixie-like Pokémon. Ash and Leaf gazed at Celebi as it appeared from the GS Ball. It had contained the Legendary Pokémon after all.

"Now!" Lysandre cried.

The two Admins then went over to the machines and input a series of commands. Soon, the electrical projectors swiveled upwards and fired beams of electricity at Celebi. The beams of electricity did not strike the Pokémon, though, stopping mere inches away from the Pokémon, but they _did_ form a force field around the Pokémon. Lysandre then rushed towards the Pokémon and used his pack's Aipom Arm-like arm to reach out and touch Celebi in the middle of its head.

The moment the arm touched Celebi, Lysandre's eyes flashed and he was frozen solid as the arm made contact with the Pokémon. The Admins and Xerosic looked on in concern. "Sir, are you alright?" Xerosic asked.

For a moment, there was silence. However, eventually, Lysandre gave an answer. "I'm…fine," he eventually muttered. He then grinned. "In fact, I'm better than fine. I'm better than great!"

"What's going on?" one of the Admins asked.

"I can see everything," Lysandre answered, shuddering as if he was in the throes of ecstasy. "All timelines, all potential timelines, I can see it all. I _am_ seeing it all! Not only that, but I'm seeing them all, and _understanding_. I can see an action, taken either by myself or by an enemy, see how it plays out and if it will lead to a beneficial outcome, or if it could doom a plan to failure."

"Wow, you'll be unstoppable now," the female Admin exclaimed excitedly. "Now no one will be able to stop Team Flare."

"You're wrong," Lysandre corrected. "There _is_ one being that can stop us." He then looked over at the Celebi, still trapped behind the force field, and a sinister expression crossed his face. He then went over to his machine and input another series of commands. Soon, the electrical beams ceased creating a force field and, instead, began lashing out at the Psychic/Grass-type Pokémon, striking it and causing electricity to arc across its body. Celebi gave a high-pitched cry of pain as the lightning bolts hit it.

"Admins, let out your Pokémon and have them attack Celebi! Kill it now!" the Team Flare Boss cried.

Immediately, the Team Flare Admins let out Liepard, Manectric, Mightyena, and Houndoom, the Pokémon emerging from their Poké Balls and before they hit the ground, they received their orders. "Liepard, use Sucker Punch, Manectric, use Overheat, Mightyena, use Crunch, Houndoom, use Flamethrower on Celebi! Kill it!" the Team Flare Admins cried.

Xerosic looked over at his Inkay and recalled it to its Poké Ball, knowing that it would be of little use in a battle like this. He also felt as if Inkay would likely refuse to participate in this type of battle or worse, assist Celebi.

Lysandre then let out Pyroar and cried, "Pyroar, use Flamtherower on Celebi! Kill it now!"

The Pokémon obeyed their masters' commands and unleashed their attacks on Celebi. Celebi, already hurting from the electricity fired from the machines, was unable to mount an effective defense, especially against the Dark-type Pokémon. The Flamethrower, and Overheat attacks were the first attacks to score on Celebi, each one creating an explosion of smoke as they struck the fairy-like Pokémon, inflicting significant damage to the Legendary Pokémon, burning it in the process. The Sucker Punch then struck Celebi, inflicting even more damage. However, despite the abuse, Celebi was not helpless. It unleashed a Psychic on the Manectric and sent it flying into the wall, the fairy-like Pokémon convulsing as it felt its burn. Still, it was able to attack again and a second Psychic crushed it against the wall, the crack of bones echoing throughout the lab as Manectric's neck was broken and it collapsed onto the ground, dead. One Pokémon was down, four more to go. Still, Ash and Leaf had a feeling that they knew how this fight was going to end.

The other Pokémon promptly redoubled their assault. They unleashed attack after attack on Celebi, assaulting the Pokémon, causing it to convulse as it weathered the assault. Celebi counterattacked again, this time using Leaf Storm to strike at Liepard. The impact struck Liepard squarely in the head and inflicted significant damage to the Dark-type Pokémon, but it was able to endure Celebi's attack. It then redoubled its own attack, using Sucker Punch once more to inflict more damage on Celebi.

Ash and Leaf watched the scene, both of the teens having to hold back tears as they watched the assault Celebi was being forced to endure. Both teens were also seething with hatred towards Team Flare. Had Ash known about this earlier, he would have actually tried to kill the Team Flare Boss. As for Leaf, her fingers clenched into fists as she watched, wishing that she had known about his threat so she would have hunted him down and killed him, for she knew that she had the skill to kill him.

Back to Celebi, eventually, the green fairy-like Pokémon could endure no more. Burns, scratches, and cuts marred its body as it unleashed another Leaf Storm on Liepard, causing it to faint, leaving only Mightyena, Houndoom, and Pyroar. Knowing that it would not survive another assault, Celebi attempted to teleport itself to another point in time. Much as it had expected, though, it was unable to do so, though it did not know if that was due to any shielding or simply due to the damage it had suffered. Knowing that it would not survive this assault, it figured that the best thing to do would be to take its attackers with it. It then began to sing Perish Song, the high-pitched voice bursting out in song despite it suffering attack after attack.

Hearing Celebi sing the song, Lysandre cried, "Kill it now!"

His subordinates and Pyroar obeyed, each of whom launching more attacks on Celebi, the Admins even drawing out energy pistols and shooting at the fairy-like Pokémon, some of the emerald green pulses scoring hits on Celebi, each attack inflicting more damage to Celebi. Eventually, the fairy-like Pokémon was unable to remain aloft and it fell to the ground, losing consciousness before it could finish its Perish Song. Still, the rise and fall of its chest indicated that the Pokémon was still alive.

Team Flare's Pokémon mercifully stopped their assaults as Lysandre and Pyroar approached the fallen Celebi. He looked down at the Pokémon, its body marred by countless burns, cuts, and scratches. The only reason it was not bleeding on the floor was because the Fire-type attacks had cauterized any cuts that it had sustained. That was of little comfort to the unconscious Pokémon, though. The Team Flare Boss soon caught sight of the Pokémon's chest rising and falling, indicating that it was still alive. He gave a sigh and stooped down towards the fallen Pokémon.

"I am sorry I have to do this," he told the unconscious Celebi. "But your ability to go back and forth through time makes you a liability to my plans, one that could undo them. As such, in order for me to be able to create a beautiful world without people," he then paused as a tear formed in his eye and rolled down his cheek, "you have to die," he finished.

He then looked over at Pyroar and nodded. The Pokémon then used Flamethrower on the fallen Celebi, setting the Pokémon ablaze. Celebi gave cries of agony as it instantly awakened when it was set on fire. Ash and Leaf had to look away as Celebi burned, eventually falling over as its little arms grabbed its head as it could not escape the flames, the pain being too great for it to concentrate and psychically extinguish the flames. After a few seconds, it fell to the ground and lie still, its cries stopping as well, the Pokémon finally having succumbed to its injuries. A single Flamethrower then incinerated Celebi's corpse, leaving nothing but a pile of ashes.

The Team Flare Admins had looked on as Lysandre had had Pyroar execute Celebi, utter glee showing on their faces as they saw watched Celebi's suffering. Xerosic's expression, however, seemed stoic at first but it looked as if he may have had some trouble watching the execution, though he still had not acted, knowing that science sometimes required sacrifice. Lysandre then turned away from the pile of ashes and went back to the Admins and Xerosic.

"So, sir, what do we do now?" Xerosic asked.

"We make our preparations," Lysandre answered. "With the knowledge I have, our schedule has been moved up at least a year, possibly more."

The Admins and Xerosic grinned as Lysandre then departed the inner lab. His subordinates then followed him out, letting the janitorial staff clean up the mess left by the Pokémon battle, or slaughter. As soon as they had left the chamber, the scene stopped and began again at the beginning where Lysandre was meeting with the Steels.

Ash and Leaf looked away as the scene began again, both teens barely able to contain their rage and horror. Ash, for his part, was horrified at what he had seen, unable to believe that humans and/or Pokémon were capable of such cruelty and evil. Leaf, however, had seen such evil before, and the scene had merely brought back memories of Team Rocket, though she had not seen them be _that_ brutal towards someone before.

"Lysandre needs to die," Leaf seethed in a grim tone. "He needed to die before this all started."

"Yeah," Ash seethed. He could scarcely believe that he was agreeing with Leaf about the need for a person to die. It was a completely alien feeling to him and he did not like it.

Leaf then looked over at John, whose faceplate was hiding his expression. Still, it was clear that he had not liked having to study such a brutal scene. "So Lysandre gained Celebi's ability to see into the future," she began. "So why were Ash and his friends able to beat him the first time?"

"Likely because he knew that from that defeat, he could make his plans for the Ultimate Weapon in secret with everyone believing him to be defeated and unable to continue with his plans," came John's answer. "With him being defeated the first time, no one would suspect that he still harbored any ambitions for destroying the world. It would be the perfect cover, and it would also give the chance of those who defeated him becoming overconfident and not take him seriously enough until it was too late."

"So what's the plan?" Leaf asked. "You wouldn't be showing us this if you didn't have a plan."

"I have the beginnings of a plan, but a lot of things have to go right for it to work. Besides, there is one more scene that we all need to see before we can get this plan underway."

"What is the scene?" Ash asked.

"This," John answered as he looked up at an image of a Malamar. Leaf took one look at the Malamar and figured that this was one of the Malamars that she had fought on the roof of Hotel Richissime.

"What is this?" Leaf asked.

"Everything we could ever want," John answered in a satisfied tone. "Dialga showed it to me just before we brought you here. Just as Lysandre was able to see the future by stealing Celebi's ability, we can see the past, present, alternate timelines, as well as alternate futures. I was able to see what Lysandre feared so much. I discovered Serena's importance to stopping Lysandre's plans, how he was able to influence her, as well as the secret on what we have to do to ensure that the destruction of Kalos is undone."

"Couldn't you just give us the short version?" Ash asked.

"Trust me, you'll want to see this." He then got closer to Ash and told him, "You _need_ to see this. This is what your girlfriend is truly capable of and what had really happened to her. This will answer some questions that you likely have as well."

"Okay," Ash answered hesitantly. Leaf was not so hesitant, though, and she went right up to the hologram and activated it. The image fizzled for a few moments before disappearing. The world then faded again before the scene came into focus, allowing the teens to see the history of Lysandre and the truth about Serena, her dreams, and her destiny.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23:

The scene came into focus and began with Lysandre sitting in his chair deep in thought as several scientists were hard at work at their stations and his Pyroar lay at his side. He was watching a screen that showed Alain searching some ruins for a Mega Stone of some sort. He smiled as Alain found what he was looking for and the screen soon turned off. He sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, trying to bring the knowledge of Celebi to the forefront of his mind. He had to plan things very carefully if he was to not draw any undue attention to himself, for if his true plans were ever exposed, he would be destroyed, for he knew that even with Malva's help, he would be unable to defeat Diantha and the rest of the Elite Four.

As knowledge of the future came to mind, his eyes shot open and he rose from his chair and retreated to the back of the room, where the door that led to his inner office was located. Pyroar rose and followed him out of the room and back to his office where he went to a desk with a small television screen on and a small keypad below it. He tapped a button and the screen came to life, the image of Xerosic appearing on the screen, along with a trio of Malamars.

"It's the Malamars," Ash gasped.

John nodded. He had seen this part and he knew where things were headed. He looked over at Leaf, who was scowling. She, too, had a pretty good idea of where things were headed.

Back in the scene, they heard Lysandre push a button and say, "Xerosic, what is your report."

"They're as impressive as you said they'd be," the Team Flare Scientist answered. "You should come down and see them for yourself."

"I'll be there as soon as I can. Tell the Malamars to remain there until I get a chance to talk to them."

"Understood sir," came the answer.

The image went to static for a few seconds before it re-formed and they were standing in the middle of a grassy field that the teens suspected was just outside of Lumiose City. Standing in the grassy field were Lysandre, Xerosic, and the three Malamars. "I came across these Malamars a month ago and I found that they had promising potential. Only now do I realize just how promising they really can be," Xerosic proclaimed proudly.

"What do you mean?"

"I'll let them explain it," the Team Flare Scientist answered.

The Team Flare Boss then turned to the three squid-like Pokémon and looked at them sternly. "Well?"

[Doctor Xerosic has told us a great deal about you in the past month,] the lead Malamar began.

"And?" the Team Flare Boss asked succinctly, not being in the mood for games or pleasantries.

[And, we have decided that our goals coincide with yours enough that it would be to our mutual benefit to work together,] a second Malamar finished for the first.

"And what are your goals?"

[We wish to revert the environment to a state that is more suitable to our liking,] the third Malamar answered.

"And that would entail…?"

[That is _our_ secret,] the first Malamar answered.

"That's not good enough," Lysandre declared.

He then turned to leave but Xerosic reached out and grabbed his shoulder, causing the Team Flare Boss to turn and glare at him. "Remove your hand from my shoulder before I remove yours from your body," he growled.

"Hear them out, Lysandre," Xerosic insisted.

"I just did."

"You haven't heard everything they have to offer," Xerosic continued. "They could be the final key to ensuring our success."

"They wish to change the environment," Lysandre contested. "That will likely not be good for humans _or_ Pokémon."

"But it would accomplish our objective," Xerosic insisted. "They get something they want, we get _everything_ we want."

"And how do I know that this will work out the way you say?" Lysandre challenged, still having misgivings about working with the Malamars. "What can they do that will change things? I have identified the primary threats to our plans."

"And those threats are currently untouchable," Xerosic stated plainly. "Calem is the son of two well-known Pokémon Battlers that would immediately start a serious investigation if anything happened to their son. In addition, he was also the Junior Kalos Champion a few years back. As for Serena, she is the daughter of Grace, the world-famous Rhyhorn Racer. She is also a close friend of Calem's. You don't think that their families will be putting everything in Kalos under the microscope if something happens to their children? It will take a while for us to gain hold of the Ultimate Weapon that will be needed for our objectives to be accomplished. If we let them run around until the weapon is ready, then everything we've been working for will be put in jeopardy."

"And how will the Malamars be able to neutralize their threat?" Lysandre asked skeptically.

"There has been research indicating that certain Pokémon may have greater powers than we originally believed. I have recently discovered that this is the case with Malamar. When properly trained, a Malamar can travel back and forth through time. Not only that, but they can travel back and forth throughout _their own timeline_." Xerosic let that sink in for Lysandre. The Team Flare Boss's eyes then lit up with realization. Still, there was one question that needed to be answered.

"Can they affect our own past without creating too much of a temporal paradox and threatening the stability of the timeline?" Lysandre inquired.

[Of course,] the lead Malamar answered for Xerosic. [We wouldn't do so if there were too much danger to the world, for we need the world to exist for us to live in it.]

"That's true," Lysandre admitted, smiling. He then eyed the Malamars and asked, "Can any of you go back in time yet?"

[Not quite,] the lead Malamar answered. The other two also shook their heads in the negative. [We still need to get stronger and more skilled for us to be able to reliably go back in time to precise coordinates.]

"How long do you think it will take for you to do so?" the Team Flare Boss asked.

[A couple more months or so,] the Malamar answered. [We can go back and forth through time; just not with any real precision. We can't fully control where, or when, we will emerge, though we can return to our point of departure without incident.]

"Then train hard. Once you master this ability of yours, I'll have a use for it."

The Malamars then glowered at the Team Flare Boss. [Be careful, Lysandre,] the lead Malamar warned. [We are only willing to work with you and your new Team Flare because our goals coincide with one another. If your goals ever come into conflict with our own, the deal will be off.]

"I do not foresee that happening," Lysandre assured the trio calmly.

[See that it doesn't,] the Malamar finished ominously.

Lysandre then looked over at Xerosic and told him, "Continue with their training. I want them to be able to go back and forth through time as soon as possible. I have some more studying to do."

"What's the problem?" Xerosic asked. Despite Lysandre putting up a strong face, he knew that his boss was deeply troubled. While the visions granted by the power of Celebi would allow him to see the future, if the only future was of his defeat, the power would serve no use at all.

The Team Flare Boss looked over at his subordinate and answered, "It's probably nothing but I wish to do some more studying before I write it off."

Ash and Leaf looked closely at the scene and they figured Lysandre was suspicious of the Malamars and that he was only using them as a means to an end. She then thought back to her battle with them on the roof of Hotel Richissime and figured that after she had killed the first one, that the one that had escaped was likely killed by Team Flare. Apparently, the environment that was created in Europe after the Ultimate Weapon fired on Kalos, and the rest of the continent, would not have been to their liking. They then saw the scene distort until it disappeared.

A few seconds later, the scene came back into focus, the scene showing the interior of Lysandre's office. Lysandre was standing in the middle of his office, with Xerosic, the Team Flare Scientist that was becoming more and more important since he had experience training Malamars and was currently training the Malamars for their assignment, standing next to him.

"Xerosic, how is the Malamars' training going?" the Team Flare Boss asked succinctly.

"It is progressing well," Xerosic answered.

"Do they suspect anything?"

Xerosic glanced quizzically at his boss, not understanding what he meant. "Sir?"

"Do they suspect their eventual fate once their usefulness has ended?"

Xerosic still did not understand what his boss was asking. He could not comprehend eliminating such a valuable resource as the Malamar Trio. They were some of Team Flare's strongest Pokémon, being able to go toe-to-toe with some Legendary Pokémon. Eliminating them would be waste of gigantic proportions.

"What will their fate be?" Xerosic eventually asked, wanting his boss to verbalize what he was dreading.

"You know their power and ability. If they surmise our true intentions for Kalos, and the rest of the world, they will turn on us," Lysandre stated in no uncertain terms. Xerosic then nodded with realization. "Make the proper preparations for that eventuality, but keep the information compartmentalized. The Malamars are, after all, part Psychic-type and are, as a result, telepathic. We can't let them know about their eventual fate."

"Yes, sir," Xerosic answered. He then turned and departed the room, allowing Lysandre to go back to looking at his screen. Lysandre knew that Xerosic was apprehensive about the prospect of killing the Malamars. While Xerosic was a scientist, he knew that the Malamars were an essential resource to the organization. They were putting a great deal of resources into training these Malamars, as well as opening up secrets to them. Still, Lysandre could not take the risk of the Malamars not agreeing with his plans for Kalos, and the world. If they knew of his plans to try to destroy all sentient beings on Earth, human and Pokémon alike, they would try to stop him and that could not be allowed.

Lysandre then turned his attention to the massive television screen on the wall. Taking a remote from the chair in the center of the room, he pushed a button and the screen immediately sprang to life. It was currently showing the training of the Malamar Cult, as they were now being called by the Team Flare Admins and Scientists. They were training in the use of their telepathy as well as their teleportation, traveling back and forth through time. They were able to travel to the future quite easily and return to their point of departure without difficulty. The only trouble was being able to go into the past, which was what Lysandre needed them to be able to do.

He then turned off the screen and headed towards a computer console on a small desk in the corner where a helmet was sitting. Several wires jutted out from the helmet, each connected to the computer. Upon reaching the console, he reached down, grabbed the helmet, and placed it on his head. As he did so, the screen came to life once more and it suddenly showed the image of Serena, as well as that of Calem, Trevor, Shauna, and Tierno, all in their own smaller screens situated about the room.

Ash gazed at Serena and noticed that she looked older in this scene, likely fifteen or sixteen if he had to guess. She also had the long hair that she had when he had met her during his first trip through Kalos, as well as her standard uniform of her sleeveless black shirt and red miniskirt. He also noticed that Serena's expression was noticeably different than the expression he had seen her with during his travels with her. When she was with him, she was always smiling and blushing, likely due to her crush on him, as well as her friendly nature. She had, however, been a lousy battler, something that had been demonstrated when Ash and friends lost to Leaf in their battle inside Hotel Richissime. Here, though, she had a stern expression that was much more reminiscent of Leaf's casual expression of seriousness. He looked over at Leaf and though that he saw her give a satisfied smile. She definitely seemed to like this Serena more than the one that had traveled with him.

He then studied the scene since he had a suspicion that this may well have been the fate that Lysandre was trying to avoid, as well as being the fate that Ash and the others had to turn into reality. Focusing on the scene, Ash saw that Serena was in the middle of a Pokémon battle with Lysandre, using a Mega Charizard X to take down Lysandre's Mega Gyarados with a Dragon Claw. The Mega Gyarados falling to the ground, reverting back to its normal form while doing so, with Serena and Mega Charizard X then staring down the Team Flare Boss. Ash and friends could not hear what was being said, but they could see Serena's lips moving, as well as Lysandre's, her expression not wavering a bit as she focused in on the Team Flare Boss. He wished that he could hear what they were saying, but he had a pretty good idea that Serena was trying to get Lysandre to stop whatever it was he was doing.

He glanced over at Leaf and saw her giving a satisfied smile once more. "Well, this Serena is definitely a better battler than the Serena we knew," she observed. "I like this one."

Ash could not disagree with Leaf's observation. This Serena was much more a warrior than the Serena that he had known. He wondered if she was harsher, though, like he viewed Leaf, or if she was still friendly with people who were not trying to destroy the world. A part of him was sad at seeing her in this type of battle, but another part of him felt like Leaf. There was a sense of rightness in this scene as she defeated Lysandre and showed herself to be a very strong battler; like this was her true destiny and he was seeing the real Serena for the first time in his life.

The scene soon switched to the point where Lysandre fired the Ultimate Weapon, likely hoping to destroy Kalos. The blast erupted from the top of the weapon and flew into the sky, reaching orbit, before it came crashing back down to the Earth. Then, it did something that Ash had not expected. It collided with the weapon, shattering it, and burrowed beneath the ground, destroying Team Flare's Secret Headquarters, burying or killing anyone inside. A large cloud of dust erupted from the blast and obscured the teens' view of the scene. A few seconds later, though, Ash and Leaf saw Serena and Calem emerge from a secret exit to the base, meeting up with Trevor, Shauna, and Tierno. Sina and Dexio also appeared on the scene, likely asking about Lysandre's fate.

Lysandre's screen then went blank and Ash and Leaf could see the scowl on his face, but they could also tell that the scowl hid his fear. He had just seen what was likely his death. He then pushed the button on the console and the screen came to life once more. It played through some more scenes, these scenes showing Serena challenging and beating the Kalos League, facing off against and beating the Elite Four, and then defeating the Champion, Diantha, and winning the Honor of Kalos for defeating Team Flare and becoming the region's new Champion. They saw the bead of sweat drip down from Lysandre's brow as he saw no sign of his appearing in the aftermath of Team Flare's defeat. He then continued to play through future events, many of which involved Serena and Calem as they battled against one another. There was even an image of Serena with Ash and some of his friends as they participated in a Tournament of Champions. Leaf was also present, shown as being the favorite in the tournament. Lysandre then gave one more scowl as he turned off the screen and sat back in his chair, his mind racing with what he had seen. He had known all of this, of course, but even with all of Celebi's power, and already knowing what he was going to see, the sight of his death as well as the failure of Team Flare still haunted him. This was not how he wanted it to end.

The Team Flare Boss turned off the screen and then went over to his chair to recline and consider his options. As he did so, his mind began to race. He closed his eyes and did everything he could to try to identify when and how this Serena could become such a grave threat. She looked to be a teenager no older than fifteen or sixteen. He then grimaced. Children younger than her had done great damage to other organizations. Leaf was the bane of Team Rocket, along with Ethan and Lyra. May and Dawn had helped deal with Teams Aqua, Magma and Team Galactic respectively. Hilda and Hilbert had defeated Team Plasma as well and had allowed Ghetsis to be captured before he had escaped, only to be defeated later at another point by teens known as Nate and Rosa. Each of those children was younger than this Serena.

He soon turned his focus towards Serena's friends. Using Celebi's powers, he managed to glean that even if they had been killed or separated from Serena, that she would still have sufficient power and skill to defeat him since she would still have access to Mega Evolution. He then tried to figure out how to keep her from getting Mega Evolution, but that was impossible, for every timeline he looked into, she would find some way to obtain it. And to make matters worse, even if he managed to stop her from becoming the strongest Trainer, Calem was right there to pick up any slack. All timelines showed that it would be either her or Calem that would beat him, and they would always manage to do so, for they not only had each other as friends, but also Trevor, Shauna, and Tierno for support. Still, there had to be a way to stop them. If he was able to see the future, then there had to be some way to change it. If he could simply separate them from one another; drive a wedge between them, divide them, then there would be a chance. He continued to use Celebi's power to try to find a way for him to come up with a winning game plan. After a few seconds, he arched his eyebrows in question, almost as if he did not believe what he had seen. After a moment, though, he grinned. Perhaps there _was_ a way to do this.

He quickly rose from his desk and went to his desk. He went over to the small console on his desk and input a series of commands. Soon, all of the information regarding Pokémon Showcases appeared on screen. The visions that he had received through Celebi's power showed him that Pokémon Showcases were not in the original timeline where Serena had defeated him, or any of the timelines where the children had stopped Team Flare. Could it be possible that something seemingly as trivial as Pokémon Showcases were the key to him succeeding in destroying Kalos, and possibly the world, reverting it to a more beautiful place, a place without people? He gave a soft chuckle. He could scarcely believe that something like a simple performance could be the key to victory.

He used Celebi's power as he read through everything regarding Pokémon Showcases. Indeed, as shocking as it seemed, Pokémon Showcases were a result of the Malamar Cult influencing a certain group of people to expand them from what they were now. Without that push, the timeline was set and he was doomed. Still, he had seen Pokémon Showcases before. Aria was the current Kalos Queen and a popular idol. She was very famous on the Pokémon Showcase circuit. He figured that the Malamars would need to go into the past to get the ball rolling. That would be the perfect test for them. The image then dissolved before the teens.

It soon came back into focus and re-formed, showing a lush green field with a dirt road passing through. Lysandre stood in the middle of the field, with his Pyroar standing at his side, grinning as he gazed at the three Malamars. "This is your final test. You have greatly improved your strength and have demonstrated time traveling capabilities. Now, you are going to have to show your true potential. I want you to go back in time and help influence a group of individuals to create an event called a Pokémon Showcase."

The Malamars glanced at each other and then scoffed at Lysandre's order. [Pokémon Showcases already exist,] one of the Malamars stated.

"Yes, they do, to a limited extent," Lysandre said, nodding. "However, I have a different goal for them in mind. I want them to be expanded. I want them to be on the level of the Kalos League Tournament and the Grand Festivals in Hoenn and Sinnoh."

[Why?] another of the Malamars asked. [What will this 'Showcase' entail?]

"I will have to see the effects of your influence before I can answer that question."

[We understand,] the Malamars answered, bowing, before taking a step backwards. [You will soon see our worth to your organization. Pray you are as worthwhile to us,] they finished ominously before a blue swirling vortex appeared behind them. They then floated towards the vortex and then disappeared into it, the vortex vanishing from sight. After they had disappeared, Lysandre waited for a few minutes, simply standing there with his Pyroar.

After a few minutes, the blue swirling vortex returned and the Malamar floated through it and landed in front of Lysandre. [It has been done as you requested,] the lead Malamar told him.

"Then why can I still remember the previous form of Pokémon Showcases? Why do I feel as if nothing has changed?"

[Because we're using our psychic abilities to ensure that you remember everything as it was before our alterations of it.] They then stared at Lysandre and their eyes glowed blue for a brief second before returning to normal. [There, now you'll realize the changes.]

Indeed, the memories of the changes in the timeline soon appeared in Lysandre's mind. He still did not know for certain how the timeline had been altered safely and him still have memories of the previous timeline, but he did not worry about that at the moment. All that mattered was the fact that the Malamars could change the timeline safely and only _he_ knew about it. This was perfect. The stage was set. All he had to do was neutralize Serena's threat, once and for all, by ensuring that she would never become a threat in the first place.

"You have done remarkable work," Lysandre congratulated the Malamars. "Report here at this time tomorrow for your next assignment. Until then, rest, have fun, do whatever you do for recreation. You've earned it."

The Malamars grinned as they floated away from Lysandre. As they floated away, he gave a satisfied smile. Everything was set. Tomorrow, the world would change once more, and he would be one step closer to his dream. The image then distorted and disappeared.

A few seconds later, an image soon came into focus once more. Lysandre was standing alone in the same field as before. Ash and Leaf suspected that this was the next day. Lysandre checked his watch and scowled before looking up. The Malamar Cult was late. He did not like it. No reports of any incidents had come across his desk so he did not think that anything had gone wrong or that they had gotten into any trouble, but he did not want to take that chance. A part of him had regretted not sending the Malamars into the past yesterday, but he knew that they needed their rest. And even if they had not, he felt that it would be a bad idea to try to potentially antagonize them by sending them on one assignment after the other. He knew that they had their own goals and that this was a give and take relationship. He would allow them to come at their own leisure.

After fifteen minutes of waiting, something that was as boring for Ash and Leaf as it likely had been for Lysandre, the Malamar Cult came into view. The Team Flare Boss turned and glowered at them as they approached, smug smiles etched on their faces. The Team Flare Boss said nothing as the Malamars approached and eventually came to a halt a few feet away.

[What? Nothing to say about our tardiness?] the lead Malamar half inquired, half mocked. The other two then began to snicker, something that drew the ire of Lysandre, though the Team Flare Boss did not show it.

"What would that accomplish at this point?" Lysandre retorted. "The important thing is that you're here."

The Malamars' smile did not disappear. [You said you had an assignment for us,] the lead Malamar began. [What is it?]

Lysandre then took out a picture of Serena and showed it to the Malamar Cult. "Do you recognize this girl?"

The Malamars took a close look at the picture and then frowned as one, shaking their heads. [No,] the lead Malamar answered. [Haven't seen her before in my life.]

"You will shortly," Lysandre began. "This girl is a threat to our goals, and yours," he told them gravely. The Malamars looked at him skeptically. "She will one day become a Pokémon Master that will destroy us."

[Her?] one of the Malamars scoffed.

The Team Flare Boss nodded. "I have seen it in my visions," Lysandre answered.

[The ones you get through the power of Celebi?] the second Malamar asked, though the tone indicated that the Malamar was already well aware of Lysandre's acquired powers and merely wanted Lysandre to know that it knew.

Lysandre's eyes went wide at their question. He had not told them about his taking of Celebi's power. He grimaced. Xerosic must have told them, or they must have scanned the scientist's mind. He would have to have a talk with the scientist, as well as the other scientists and Admins about guarding their thoughts more carefully. Eventually, he nodded in confirmation of their supposition.

[Then why not just kill her?] the lead Malamar asked.

"Because she is the daughter of a celebrity, as well as the best friend of another celebrity," Lysandre answered. "Simply killing her would draw undue scrutiny towards us and doom our plans. We would be discovered and stopped."

[Then what would you have us do?]

"Go back in time and divert her away from becoming a Pokémon Trainer," Lysandre answered. He then handed them a sheet of paper with the known history and biographical information on Serena. "This is everything we know about this Serena. How you keep her from becoming a Pokémon Trainer is up to you. Just make sure that you guide her away from that destiny."

[Not a problem,] the lead Malamar answered. A plan was already beginning to form in the sinister Pokémon's mind. [Yes, that should work,] it eventually murmured audibly enough for Lysandre to hear, though the words were not meant for the Team Flare Boss.

"I don't care how you do it, just do it," Lysandre bellowed.

[Understood,] the Malamars answered in unison. The lead Malamar then looked Lysandre in the eye and told him, [However, we have our own goals to accomplish, too, and we will have to be doing some traveling in the past in order to get them started. As such, we might not make contact with you again for a while.]

"I understand," Lysandre answered, inclining his head towards them.

The Malamars then grinned as they backed away. A blue vortex soon formed above them and they floated into it, vanishing from sight as soon as they flew into it. The moment the Malamars had disappeared into the vortex, it vanished from sight. Once the vortex disappeared, so, too, did the image before Ash and Leaf.

It took a few seconds for a new world to materialize before Ash and Leaf. They simply watched the three dimensional movie as the scene came into focus. A series of images soon appeared, almost as if they were looking through a series of events, or a backstory of someone's life. He soon saw the appearance of a girl with honey blonde hair, blue eyes, looking to be around nine or ten years old. Ash instantly recognized the girl as a younger version of Serena. Ash and Leaf saw several scenes of her and Ash went and selected the earliest scene on record.

The world soon materialized around them as they found themselves standing on what looked to be a Pokémon Battlefield situated inside an academy. Serena was there, dressed in a standard school uniform, stepping up to her Trainer's circle, facing off against another girl, this one having brown hair and brown eyes. He soon heard Serena cry, "Go Fletchling!"

She then tossed the Poké Ball out onto the battlefield and the ball opened up, revealing a small gray bird with an orange head. "Fletchling," it cried upon emerging from the Poké Ball.

"Noibat, go!" her opponent cried, the girl's Poké Ball opening to reveal a Noibat, a small purple bat-like Pokémon with large ears. Ash smiled, thinking back to when his Noivern had been a Noibat. "Noibat," the Pokémon cried upon leaving its ball.

The teens soon noticed a referee standing on the side of the battlefield. The referee was a female dressed in the traditional referee's uniform. Once both combatants were ready, she raised her hand and then brought it down in a chopping motion, crying, "Let the battle begin!"

"Noibat, use Gust," Serena's opponent cried.

"Fletchling, go evasive and use Quick Attack when you see an opening!" Serena cried in counterpoint.

Noibat began the battle by flapping its wings hard, sending large gusts of wind towards Fletchling. The gusts were so strong that they appeared to be visible to the naked eye. Fletchling deftly maneuvered around the gusts and searched for an opening where it could attack safely. It quickly found one and it rushed forward, ramming Noibat head on, sending it reeling. Serena's opponent gasped as she saw Noibat take the hit, but Noibat spun through the air and quickly recovered, readying an attack of its own.

"Watch out! Don't get caught off guard!" Serena cried to Fletchling as Noibat unleashed a Wing Attack on Fletchling, the Noibat's wings glowing as it rocketed towards Fletchling. Serena's Pokémon took the full force of the attack and it was sent spinning. Still, Fletchling was not down for the count.

It quickly recovered and Serena's opponent cried, "Noibat, finish it off with another Wing Attack."

"Fletchling, use Tackle Vee-Two!" Serena cried.

Her strange order caused her opponent to cast a confused glance towards her. She did not know what Serena was doing, but soon learned as Noibat went to use Wing Attack on Fletchling. Wing Attack was a stronger attack then Tackle, though the average Fletchling was superior to the standard Noibat in physical attack power so there was no telling just by looks who would win in a direct collision between the two attacks. Serena had no intention of finding out, though, for just as Noibat was about to make contact with Fletchling, she cried, "Now!"

Fletchling then deftly maneuvered out of the path of the Wing Attack and performed a strong Tackle on Noibat, ramming itself right into Noibat's back, driving it into the ground, where it crashed, sending up a cloud of dirt. After a few seconds, the cloud cleared and Noibat was seen struggling to rise. Fletchling hovered in the air, ready to finish the battle, but the referee called the fight, raising her hand.

"This battle is over. Serena wins by TKO!"

The other students cheered Serena's victory, with her opponent giving her a gracious bow before recalling Noibat, telling it, "You did your best. Take a good rest. We'll get 'em next time."

Serena then recalled Fletchling to its Poké Ball, saying, "You were great out there, Fletchling. You deserve a good rest."

Both Ash and Leaf had watched the battle and both were impressed with Serena's skills, particularly at how she had come up with a strategy to let Fletchling know to evade when an attack was coming and to counterattack when the opponent was vulnerable. As the class returned to the main school building, the scene faded from view and the teens saw the scene selection once more. The next scene showed a picture of Serena during commencement to the next grade for the Sky Trainer Academy. They decided to play that scene, for they had a feeling that it would give more information about Serena, information that she had never told Ash about at all.

The scene soon started to appear around them and they saw Serena standing with the rest of her class as they graduated to the next grade level, the high school equivalent for the Sky Trainer Academy. She looked to still be about nine or ten in this scene. The headmaster, a man in his early sixties was reading the names of the graduates to the high school level. Eventually, he called, "Serena Gabena."

The crowd cheered as Serena stepped out on stage and went up to the headmaster to accept her middle school diploma. When she reached the headmaster she accepted the diploma and shook his hand. As she did so, the cheers became even more deafening as her diploma, which labeled her as being at the top of her class. After accepting her diploma, she looked for her mother but could not find her. She looked disappointed as she went to take her seat with the rest of her class. They then saw her grit her teeth as she took her seat, obviously disappointed at the lack of her mother's appearance. As Ash looked at the scene more closely, though, he thought that he was able to see the silhouette of a Malamar standing off to the side, unnoticed by anyone there. Was this the beginning of Serena's change of her dream into eventually becoming a Pokémon Performer and idol?

With that, the world transformed into a montage of images and scenes showing Serena in the high school level of Sky Trainer Academy. She was shown training Flying-type Pokémon, as well as Pokémon that could float in the air or actually fly, even if they were not Flying-type or even had the Levitate ability. She was a prodigy, always at the top of her class, even managing to defeat some of the teachers, even when they were serious. Leaf could only grin at the scene. "If only _this_ Serena had been the one to deal with Team Flare," she lamented. Ash could only agree. It was easy to see why Lysandre had been so scared of Serena and her abilities. This version of Serena looked like she would have been a good match for Leaf, and that was saying something considering how Leaf had manhandled Ash and friends in their battle at Hotel Richissime. After a while, the world faded out and went blank once more. Soon, more scenes appeared on the list in front of the teens. The next scene on list showed Serena in her home with her mother looking unhappy. They decided to play that one, letting the world come into focus around them once more.

When the world came into focus, they found themselves inside a house in a quaint village that Ash suspected was Vaniville Town. His supposition was confirmed when he saw Serena standing by a doorway dressed in casual clothes, glaring at her mother, the famous Rhyhorn Racer, Grace, who was glaring back at Serena. Serena looked older in this scene, almost the same age she had been when she had met Ash during his journey through Kalos. Both Ash and Leaf could tell that the two were arguing about something, likely the fact that Serena was studying to become a Sky Trainer rather than a Rhyhorn Racer.

"I can't see why you're still studying at that academy to become a Sky Trainer if you've indicated that you want to become a regular Pokémon Trainer," Grace argued, her voice rising with each word. "Serena, you're my daughter. You should at least study something about Rhyhorn Racing."

"Why? So I can put Father into another coma because I can't stop Rhyhorn from running him over?" Serena retorted even more loudly. Her accusation took Grace aback and she recoiled at the statement before glaring at her daughter.

"That was uncalled for," she growled.

"Yeah, right," Serena scoffed. "It's a miracle that Dad survived your trampling of him, and it's also a miracle that I didn't simply kill on the spot Rhyhorn after that incident!"

"You wouldn't dare," Grace threatened.

"Not now," Serena acknowledged. "But I would have while Dad was still in critical condition. That's why I left home for a while and went to board at the academy. I didn't want to do something I'd regret later on."

Grace slumped forward, but she would not admit defeat. "There will come a time later on that you regret not taking up Rhyhorn Racing, even if you don't wish to become a Rhyhorn Racer," she said in a much more even tone. "There's more to Pokémon Training than Sky Training."

"I know," Serena answered. "But I think I'll learn that stuff from the professionals that don't run over their husbands because they can't control their Pokémon during a race."

That did it for Grace. "Serena Gabena, go to your room right now!" she roared, glaring at Serena and slowly stepping forward.

"Finally," Serena heaved as condescendingly as possible as she went over towards the steps and went up to her room.

"You are grounded for the week!" Grace cried.

"Good, gives me more time to study for next year," Serena called back callously.

Below, the family Fletchling and Rhyhorn had watched the argument, not really understanding what was going on or why both Serena and Grace were so angry with one another. Serena was doing well and she had been happy at school, happier than she ever was at home, something that was not all that common for kids, even kids that were about to become teenagers in a year or so. Still, Rhyhorn had recoiled in shock when he had heard that Serena had come so close to being willing to kill him over what happened with her father. Still, it hurt them that Serena and Grace looked so close to actually coming to blows over their disagreements over the direction of Serena's life.

Up in her room, Serena plopped down on the bed and took out a few books about Sky Training and training Flying-type Pokémon. She also took out a book about military aircraft, particularly attack fighters whose specialty was making attack runs on ground targets and armor. A part of her was about to grin but she then unexpectedly put the books to the side and blinked her eyes, barely able to hold back tears. The argument with her mother beat her up just as much as it had her mother. While she had been partially right, she was holding onto that grudge for far too long, especially since her father had since made a complete recovery from his injuries. She was able to hold on for a few minutes, but soon, some tears managed to escape and she broke down and cried silently.

Outside her window, unbeknownst to the girl, the Malamar Cult floated a few feet away, watching as she struggled to get a hold of herself. The Malamars grinned. This was the perfect opportunity. She was at her weakest, emotionally compromised from her argument with her mother. Each Malamar's eyes then glowed as they went to work, subtly adjusting her, not enough that she would be completely different, but enough that she would closely rethink her plans and her dreams. After a few seconds, for that was about as long as it would take for their hypnotic abilities to take hold over the girl, their eyes reverted to normal and they admired their handiwork.

Serena immediately stopped crying and went downstairs to see her mother. She took a deep breath as she reached the top of the stairs and then went down. Her mother was looking downcast as she had been standing in a corner, thinking back to the argument, regretting some of the things she had said as well. Serena walked down the stairs with trepidation as she said, "Mom."

Grace looked up and saw Serena standing on the steps. She saw the redness in her daughter's eyes, indicating that she had been crying. "Mom, I'm sorry about the things I said earlier."

"And I'm sorry about the things I said, too," Grace said.

Serena then rushed down the stairs and emphatically embraced her mother, which her mother just as emphatically returned. "I love you Mom," Serena said, not bothering to hold back any tears. "I'm so sorry about earlier.

"I love you too, dear," Grace replied, the two continuing to hug. After a moment, the image faded out, the last image Ash and Leaf saw was the Malamar Cult giving satisfied smiles. The first part of their task with Serena had been completed.

The image soon re-formed to show Serena in her room, penning a note. Images above her showed her during the summer. She had initially intended to go back to school in order to complete her Sky Trainer education, but things had changed. She no longer had the excitement for the Sky Trainer Academy that she had had before. Her relationship with her mother was better than it had been in quite a while, which may have had something to do with it. She had been wondering if her time away from home at the boarding academy had been nothing more than her trying to get away from her mother. She had even begun taking some lessons from her mother on Rhyhorn Racing. As she had expected, though, she did not like it, and was also not very good at it. Still, she liked spending more time with her mother, especially since her father was oftentimes away at work. Ash and Leaf went over to the desk to get a look at the letter. They were not surprised when they saw that it was a letter announcing that she was withdrawing from Sky Trainer Academy.

Serena was deep in thought as she heard several knocks at her door. "It's open," she called.

The door opened, revealing Grace. "Hi Serena, what are you doing?"

"I'm penning my letter of withdrawal from Sky Trainer Academy," Serena answered.

The girl's answer shocked Grace. "You're withdrawing from the academy?" she gasped. Serena could not tell if she was pleased, disappointed, or merely shocked.

Serena nodded. "For so long, I've had a strange feeling at the academy, almost as if I was using it as an escape, rather than for a true education. I know that I was at the top of my class, but I wasn't truly happy there. I'm happy here at home, with you, Dad, Fletchling and Rhyhorn."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Grace inquired. It had been a couple weeks since their argument and she had seen a change in Serena, but this was going pretty far in such a short period of time. Sky Trainer Academy had been Serena's dream for quite a while and she was doing so well in it.

Serena nodded. "Positive. I want to stay here. I can learn just as much at home, if not more. After all, I was only studying Flying-type Pokémon. Rhyhorn is a Ground/Rock-type Pokémon. I should study more types if I want to become a Trainer."

"Well, I've got just the thing to help you. You should practice Rhyhorn Racing. It'll help prepare you for other Pokémon goals later on and give you options since you've already studied Flying-type Pokémon."

Serena almost cringed at the suggestion. She still did not like Rhyhorn Racing, but she figured that it was better than nothing. At least, it would allow her to stay home and learn something about Pokémon before she began her journey after her twelfth birthday. "Okay," she eventually said, not nearly as excitedly as Grace had given the suggestion. "When do we begin?"

"Tomorrow," Grace answered.

Serena then went back to penning her letter as Grace let her get back to work. "What have I gotten myself into?" she muttered to herself, wondering in the back of her mind if she had made the right decision as she finished the letter and prepared to send it. With that, the scene went blank once more.

Several scenes soon appeared before the teens, each showing aspects of Serena's Rhyhorn Racing training. In these scenes, Serena was showing her displeasure at being forced into training for Rhyhorn Racing, with her mother cringing as she constantly either fell off of Rhyhorn, or was thrown off of it. Serena was not pleased at all, oftentimes eating a mouthful of dirt each time she face-planted into the ground. During each scene, Ash and Leaf saw the Malamar Cult off in the distance, their eyes not glowing, but the trio grinning at the sight, indicating that they were not actively mind-controlling her, but were waiting for the right time to reinforce their hypnosis on her. That was when the scene went blank once more.

The world quickly came into view as the scene played back the first encounter between one of the evil Malamars and Ash and friends. Ash remembered Serena's girly nature prevented her from having Meowth scratch her face to keep her from being hypnotized, something that was shown as Serena was almost went hysterical at the prospect of Meowth scratching her face to prevent her from being hypnotized by the Malamars. Leaf frowned at seeing Serena's vanity, which allowed her to become hypnotized by the Malamar.

As Ash watched the scene, he could not help but think that he finally knew what the Malamars were planning the whole time. All their talk about taking over the world or changing the environment was half-truths. They did intend to change the world, but they had a different means by which to do so. All of their actions merely served to cover up their true intention, which was to reinforce Serena's conditioning and make certain that she chose a path other than becoming a Pokémon Trainer or any other sort of Trainer that would involve battling, such as Contests, any Battle Chateau competitions, or becoming a Sky Trainer.

The world soon changed again as it began to play back Ash's memories of Serena, all of them good. It showed the two of them together, with Serena surreptitiously getting close to Ash when a picture of the group was being taken, with the boy being completely oblivious to her affections at the time. It also showed some of his own rare instances of where he noticed things about her, such as when she dressed up in a revealing Fennekin outfit. The scene focused on Ash's blank expression, drawing a knowing smirk from Leaf as she cast a glance his way. _So it seems as if you weren't always completely oblivious to girls_ , she thought.

Ash looked over at her and asked, "Did you say something?"

Leaf's eyes went wide with surprise, but also hope. Ash must have heard her thought, which meant that the bond between them had flared and he had recognized it. "Not verbally," she answered.

"Are you psychic, then?" was his next question.

His question prompted Leaf to slump forward and suppress a groan. "No," she answered bluntly. He was still completely oblivious to their connection, as well as their relationship. She then shrugged. It may well have been for the best. If he realized his connection to her, he might not have wanted to reset time since he would have forgotten that this had ever occurred. In fact, if they were successful, this _would not_ have ever occurred and Ash would have lost two girls in his life.

Another scene soon began to play, showing the Malamar Cult standing before Lysandre. "You have done amazing work," he congratulated. "Because of you, Team Flare is in a better place than I ever could have dreamed."

[Don't forget about your promise,] the first Malamar stated plainly.

"I haven't," Lysandre said. "I just have one more mission for you for the moment."

[You have had us change this Serena girl into a Performer and idol,] the second Malamar declared. [We've done everything you told us to. It's about time you do something for us.]

"I've done more than you know," Lysandre responded coolly. "I've kept the media from reporting on your activity. The politicians are telling the police to bury any cases and investigations involving the three of you."

The Malamars scanned him and grumbled as they realized that he was telling the truth. "Anyway, there is one more thing I need from you," he told them.

[What is it?] they grumbled.

"I need you to scan the minds of the Pokémon World's leading geneticists, scientists, and cloners," Lysandre answered. "I need you to get _all_ of the information you can from them and transfer it to me and the minds of the scientists under my direct command."

[And what will you do with that knowledge?] the lead Malamar queried.

"I will create life-forms that will be able to help create a new world more to your liking," the Team Flare Boss answered.

The Malamars looked at him skeptically and decided to scan him once more to see if he was lying. Surprisingly, though, they could not sense any lie coming from him. Again, they scowled. They did not like doing these tasks for Lysandre but he had kept his word and had helped bring them closer to their own goals. They could afford to help him with this small task. It was not like this would be difficult for them. The scene then faded out as the Malamar Cult disappeared and Lysandre grinned, awaiting their return.

After the scene faded out, there was a montage of scenes that played, showing the Malamars scanning the geneticists and cloners and relaying that knowledge to Lysandre's own scientists. A later scene then showed Lysandre standing in a lab where his scientists were cloning a Xerneas, and a Yveltal. The Team Flare Boss looked appraisingly at the Pokémon in the lab before nodding in satisfaction. Another scene then showed the image of a tree that seemed to be a small Mortality Tree. There was the husk of a Pokémon attached to the tree, though neither Ash nor Leaf could identify what the husk had once been. A scientist soon approached him and told him, "Sir, I can hardly believe it, but it works. That tree can drain the life from any life-form."

"Excellent," Lysandre almost cooed. "Now, make it larger. We need it to be able to grow to be the largest trees in the world."

"That won't be a problem, sir," the scientist told him.

"How long will it take the large versions to fully grow?"

"They should mature within a year. Once they mature will begin to drain all life of a given area, human, Pokémon, and Cetacean alike."

"How many seedlings do you have now?"

"About one hundred," the scientist answered. "With more to come," he added.

"Good," Lysandre cooed. "Give them to our Grunts immediately. We'll start planting them as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir," the scientist answered.

The scene then faded and was replaced with another montage that showed the Team Flare Grunts planting the seedlings all around the world. The scene soon fast-forwarded to show the growth of the more than one hundred Mortality Trees, clones of Xerneas and Yveltal watching over each and every tree.

Soon, the last scene began to play, which was the scene of the failed attempt to stop Lysandre inside of Team Flare's Secret Headquarters. Ash saw this and then blurted, "No, don't show this! Don't make me see this again!"

The realm did not obey and it went through Ash and Serena's inability to stop the Ultimate Weapon from firing. They then saw Serena's injury and Ash kiss her as she died before Yveltal formed a cocoon over them to try to protect them from the blast. That was when the blast collided with the ground and washed over all of Europe, and the scene mercifully went blank, leaving Ash and Leaf to stand in the middle of the now empty realm.

Tears were beginning to well up in Ash's eyes at having to relive Serena's death all over again. Leaf went over to him and patted him on the shoulder, having to blink back tears of her own. "I'm so sorry about your loss," she said in a melancholy tone.

Ash said nothing for a few moments, tumultuous emotions going through him. He had not expected this type of compassion to come from Leaf. She had always been known as a strong Trainer who did not accept weakness under any circumstances. Serena had died crying, something that he suspected would normally have drawn nothing but scorn from Leaf. Eventually, he looked over at her and answered, "Thank you."

They then stood there for a few seconds, each one staring into the other's eyes, albeit for different reasons. Leaf's affection for Ash seemed to be out of the ordinary and Ash wondered if she had a crush on him or something. There was also the fact that the more time he spent with her, the seemingly more familiar she seemed to be to him. Still, he could not remember where he had met her, how he met her, or when. As for Leaf, she was beginning to see signs of the blinders over Ash's eyes being lifted, but he never was able to make the connection.

John soon came up behind them and told them, "As you can see, the images you have seen are the last piece of the puzzle to how we can undo all that damage. All we need to do is put them in into their proper place."


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24:

Ash, Leaf, and Pikachu looked at John curiously as he made his way forward, making no hostile gestures towards the two human teens and Pikachu. He had piqued their curiosity at his mention of how to undo the damage done by Lysandre. They had been hoping to simply be able to go back in time by means of Dialga and take out the Malamars before they learned how to travel back and forth through time and influence Serena and change her dream and destiny. "What do you mean the final piece of the puzzle?" Ash asked.

"I mean that we finally know where the original point where Lysandre went down the path that led to Kalos, Europe's, and finally, the world's destruction is," John answered. "While it's going to be a little more complicated than simply going back in time and saving Celebi, we now have all of the pieces needed to save the world, and return the timeline to what it should be. All we have to do is put them together properly."

"And how do we do that?" Leaf asked.

"It's complicated," John answered. "Arceus is right. We can't just send someone into the past and have him or her undo the problem. First of all, the Malamar Cult may be on the lookout for that. Second, and this was alluded to earlier, is that we would run the very real risk of creating an alternate timeline." He then focused on Ash and continued, "In fact, it was a miracle that when Dialga sent you back in time to find out what happened with Arceus, as well as save him and expose the real culprit behind the attack, that you did not create a new timeline with your actions. While Arceus and I have taken steps to ensure that this plan will work we still have to be careful about how we pull this off so we don't inadvertently create an alternate timeline."

"What do you need from us?" Leaf asked.

"Very little from the two of you, actually," John answered. "Mewtwo, Dialga, Palkia, and Arceus will be doing the heavy lifting on this one. Mewtwo will use his telepathic abilities to relay everything that happened back to our past selves in the form of a dream. Then, with the wish that I have already made on the Triforce, and the power of the Star Rod these events will become nothing more than a dream for everyone else. Arceus will help stabilize everything with Dialga and possibly Palkia and Giratina assisting, too. We just need you to give as much of your knowledge of the events that have recently occurred as possible so we can place them in the dream for the recipients of the telepathic signal in the past."

"Mewtwo?" Ash inquired. "Is he here? And what are the Triforce and the Star Rod?"

"Mewtwo's not here yet. But I'll be able to bring him here with the power of the Star Rod, without bringing along any unwanted guests in the process. As for the Triforce and the Star Rod, they are both magical relics from the world of Hylia that can grant wishes."

"Couldn't you have just the relics to wish for the damage done to Europe to be undone and/or change the timeline like we're planning to right now?" Leaf asked.

"I already tried it with the Triforce and it didn't work. And the Star Rod is no more powerful than the Triforce," John answered. "It appears as if this is the only chance we have. That's why I'm bringing in Mewtwo as well. With the raw power we've assembled, I hope we can overpower anything that may try to stop us."

"So what will happen to this timeline once all is said and done?" Ash asked.

"If all goes well, it'll be transformed into a dream," John answered. "You'll simply wake up on the day you came to Kalos, with this having been the dream you had while you were asleep. It will be the same for everyone else, too, living or currently dead."

"And will most of the other events, save for Europe's destruction and Serena becoming a Pokémon Performer and idol, become nothing more than a dream, too?" Ash asked.

"Who knows?" John shrugged in answer. "This isn't like the time Dialga sent you back in time to stop the initial attack on Arceus. Everyone will be affected by this, even those who will die between the point of where the dream will begin and now. And when I say 'everyone', I do mean _everyone_. Several events have occurred that will result in beings other than sentients native to Earth being affected as well."

Ash gave a sigh. "I see." He then walked away from John and Leaf and stared off into Dialga's realm. He sighed again. He was going to lose everyone he had met in the last two years. And while he had been closest to Serena, with Clemont and Bonnie also being friends, he had also made friends in other regions that he had visited after he had completed his Kalos journey and they were important to him, too. Everything that had happened will have been wiped away in a heartbeat, reduced to a dream, a dream that would be forgotten once he awakened.

Leaf looked over at Ash as he walked away and was about to follow when John gently gripped her shoulder, shaking his head. "Give him some time to himself," he told her kindly.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, looking over at Ash with concern.

John gave a reassuring smile. "He'll be fine. He just needs to come to terms with what's about to happen and the changes that will occur."

"Come to terms with what?"

"The fact that the last two years of his life will have been nothing more than a dream. In the last two years, he's been to other regions besides Kalos. He has met many other traveling companions besides Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie. More than that, he developed a close friendship with Serena and may well have fallen in love with her. He _is_ old enough for that. Serena was most definitely in love with him. But you should know this, Mia."

Leaf's eyes flashed as the mention of the name of Mia. She turned to him and stared. How did he know her real name. "How?" she asked.

"I've been keeping an eye on you for quite a while, Mia," John answered. "Beyond that, I can say nothing more. But knowing you, you will remember this 'dream' when you wake up. After all, your father was training you in meditation and how to both remember and control your dreams before Team Rocket kidnapped you."

Leaf's eyes flashed again before she looked at John and smiled knowingly at him. He did not have to say anything for her to realize that he was none other than her father, who she thought had died years ago, likely looking for her. She then looked over at Ash and gave a wistful smile. He had no idea that John was his father, and maybe that was for the best. She then noticed the Creation Trio and Arceus approach.

"Well, we'd better get to work," John almost quipped. "We still need Mewtwo before we can begin the process." He then looked over at Palkia and Giratina and asked, "Have you confirmed Mewtwo's location yet?"

Both Pokémon nodded. "Yes. He's still in the Warp Zone," Arceus stated.

"Can you bring him here safely?" was John's next question.

Both Pokémon canted their heads, considering the question. [I don't know,] Palkia eventually answered. [There are two other figures with Mewtwo.]

[They're Elvanheim,] Giratina added.

"Darn," John murmured. "Magic Lords."

"Dialga and I can ensure that they don't get through," Arceus offered.

"Either way, I think it would be safer to use the Star Rod," John said. "That way, we'll only bring Mewtwo along, with no risk of stragglers coming, too."

"Does the Star Rod have a limited number of wishes?" Arceus asked, concerned that if it had a limited number of wishes that could be used on it, that it would not be able to ensure the success of John's plan to alter, or rather, restore the timeline.

"No," John answered, shaking his head. "Not that I know of. And besides, I've already used it more than once: once to come here, and another time to rescue Ash and Mia from Team Flare in the past."

"Then we should get on it," Arceus stated as he backed away.

Once Arceus was ten meters away or so, John made his wish on the Star Rod. The wand's head glowed and suddenly there was a sound that resembled a ringing chime. After eight seconds, a pillar of light appeared before John. Looking up, they could see a bipedal cat-like Pokémon descending from inside the pillar. As soon as he touched down, the pillar of blue light disappeared and revealed a partially disoriented Mewtwo, who was wondering where he was and how he had arrived in this realm.

A few meters away, Leaf looked over at the bipedal cat-like Pokémon in awe. She had heard the reports and legends of how the Elvanheim were virtually unbeatable and how even Samus Aran had had such difficulty against them. And here was Mewtwo, looking no worse for the wear after having battled two of them, standing right in front of them. "So that's Mewtwo!" she said quietly.

Mewtwo looked around the unfamiliar realm, but one that was not the Warp Zone. "Where am I?" he asked as he looked around, still on guard in case this was a trap of some sort. He quickly spotted Arceus, as well as the other members of the Creation Trio. He then saw Leaf and John, along with Ash standing off in the distance.

"You're in Dialga's realm," John answered, stepping forward, not showing any signs of apprehension, though he knew that if Mewtwo had hostile intent, that he could annihilate him with less than a thought.

"Dialga's realm?" the cat-like Psychic-type Pokémon asked absently as he gazed around the realm, spotting Ash and Pikachu in the distance. "But what is everyone doing here?" he asked. "Why aren't you on Earth?"

"Some things have happened recently," Arceus answered. "Terrible things, and they're about to get worse."

The others nodded and Leaf made her way over to Mewtwo and bowed before him. "It is an honor to meet you, Mewtwo. We really need your help."

"Who are you?" he asked. There was something familiar about the girl despite the fact that he had never met her before.

"My codename is Leaf," Leaf answered.

Mewtwo looked her in the eyes for a few moments and then gave a knowing smile before looking over at Ash. "I should have known from the moment I saw you," he said to the girl. He then looked over at Ash in the distance and commented, "He always seem to be in the center of these incidents with Legendary Pokémon."

Leaf smiled as John and the Creation Trio gathered around Mewtwo. The Psychic-type Pokémon did not know what to make of the others gathering around him at first. He then noticed John, who was holding the Star Rod, approaching. Seeing John, and sensing the same energy emanating from the star-shaped wand that had been emitted from the portal, he said, "I take it you are the one who brought me here."

John nodded.

"Not that I am ungrateful for your help, but why? Why bring me here? And why now?"

"We need your help to undo damage done to the Earth," John answered.

"Arceus alluded to that earlier. What has happened?" Mewtwo asked.

Leaf then stepped forward and relayed to Mewtwo all of the events that had happened in Kalos with the destruction of Kalos, and the rest of Europe, and all of the people that had died, as well as those who had died due to the Mortality Trees, as well as those that would die as the Mortality Trees were used as makeshift Ultimate Weapons. "So, with everything that has happened, we're hoping to change the past and stop Lysandre before he carries out his plans to fire the Ultimate Weapon and plant the Mortality Trees," she finished

"I see," Mewtwo said thoughtfully after a few moments. "And how do you intend to do this? From what I know, only Celebi and Dialga can travel back and forth through time."

"There have been other Pokémon that can travel throughout time," John stated. "Arceus may be one of them due to him being said to have created the Creation Trio, which includes Dialga."

"There were a group of Malamars that could also travel throughout time," Leaf added. "They're how Lysandre was able to accomplish his objectives, even when taking Celebi's power, alone, was not enough."

"So, you wish to try to avert the firing of the Ultimate Weapon, but you have to be careful since the Malamars would intercept you if you simply go back in time," the cat-like Psychic-type Pokémon concluded.

John and Leaf nodded.

"Why not just go back with the Creation Trio, myself, and Arceus and stop him?"

"We're worried that they may be waiting with more copies of Xerneas and Yveltal," John answered. "They may be able to see this coming and alert Lysandre as to what would happen, thus, Lysandre would take out Ash and Leaf before they became a threat and if they have enough Xerneas and Yveltal copies, they may even be able to take out Legendaries like you, the Creation Trio, and Arceus. Then we would all be doomed."

"I see," Mewtwo answered, nodding. "What must I do?"

That was when John took out the Mega Stone, the Mewtwonite Y. "Use this to gain access to power you never imagined," came the man's answer. "Since we're in Dialga's realm, you can afford to take some time getting accustomed to your new power since we're in between moments in time with regards to the outside world."

Mewtwo took the stone and then closed his eyes. The stone then began to glow and he was encased in a gray stone for a second before emerging, his physical form having changed. In the place of the tall bipedal cat-like Pokémon was smaller and lighter, but far stronger, at least in terms of special abilities, cat-like Pokémon with a long, purple appendage extending from his head. He now had two pointed curving spike-like ears with a half ring structure connected them. He also had red eyes and purple digits on his hands. Leaf looked at the Pokémon and could sense the awesome power emanating from him and her eyes went wide with surprise. She took out her Pokédex to scan his power and saw that it was off the scale. He was even stronger than Arceus, something that surprised even the Alpha Pokémon. Still, after scanning Mewtwo's power, Leaf was more hopeful than ever that things would work out. As Mewtwo went over to John and the Creation Trio to get an update as to what was happening, what the plan was, and what his role in the plan would be, Leaf noticed Ash off in the distance, talking alone with Pikachu.

Meanwhile, over at Ash, he had simply been staring off into the distance, Pikachu sitting on his shoulder, looking at him. Eventually, Pikachu began the conversation. "Pikapi, pi-ka-chu?"

Ash looked over at Pikachu and gave a kind smile. "It didn't hit me until now what would happen if we go through with this plan and it turns out to be successful. Everything that happened in the last two years will be reduced to nothing but a dream, something that never happened; just some experience that we lived while we were asleep. Everything we've done will never have happened."

"Pi-ka-ka-chu?" Pikachu asked, his head's inclination indicating that he was asking if that was so bad.

"I don't know," Ash eventually shrugged. "I mean, on the one hand, it means that everyone gets a new fresh start. But on the other hand, a lot of good things that were done will have been wiped away. We also made a lot of friends in Kalos, as well as in the other regions we've visited since then."

"Pii-ka pika pika pikaka pikachu," Pikachu replied.

Ash looked down at him and smiled. "I've said it before, but there really are times I wish I knew what you were sayin', buddy."

"He commented that everyone you've helped in Kalos is currently dead," he heard Leaf call over from behind. He turned to see the girl approaching him, a kind expression on her face.

"Hi Leaf," he said, studying her expression. He had a feeling that she was coming over to give him a pep talk about the change in the timeline that was soon to occur. "Is everything okay?" he asked, not knowing what else to say.

"It will be soon," she answered. "John and the Creation Trio are going over the plan with Mewtwo as we speak. He's already Mega Evolved so it shouldn't be too long now."

"Mewtwo's here? And he can Mega Evolve?" Ash asked.

Leaf nodded, smiling. "Yes. And he's strong as a Mega Pokémon," she answered. "He's even stronger than Arceus."

Ash gave chuckle. Thinking more on it, it no longer surprised him that Mewtwo could Mega Evolve. He was also not surprised at Mewtwo's incredible power. He looked over at Mewtwo and saw him in his Mega Evolved state, recognizing it as a form that a second Mewtwo, that one female, had achieved in another quest that he had been on. He then sighed. He wished that Mewtwo had been on Earth to fight Lysandre before the Ultimate Weapon fired. Then the tragedy of Kalos would never have come to pass. Maybe he would not have to have forgotten about Serena, and possibly not even enter her life. He would not have to forget meeting all of his Pokémon friends in Kalos, and in the other regions that he had visited since then. He soon came out of his reverie as he felt Leaf's eyes on him again.

He turned to face her and saw that she was looking intensely at him for a second before her expression softened. She then sighed and gave an encouraging smile, which he reciprocated. "Don't worry, Ash," she assured him. "I know this is going to be difficult. It's going to be difficult for me, too. I just learned a few things about John that have caused me to wish that I could remain here a little bit longer, and remember these events more vividly than them being some sort of dream."

"What things did you learn?" Ash asked.

"I learned that John is my long lost father. I had thought that he died looking for me after I had been kidnapped by Team Rocket. I wish I could spend more time with him, get to talk with him some more as a daughter. I wish that I could take the knowledge that he is still alive and has not stopped looking out for me with me into the past, not have it just be part of a dream that may well be forgotten a few minutes after I awaken."

Leaf then gave a sigh as she looked over at John as he talked with Mewtwo and the Creation Trio. Ash then voiced more of his concerns. "There are other concerns about this as well. How do we know that this will work? Even if it does work, how can we be sure that the dream won't just become reality once more? If this works, this will all be nothing more than a dream. Dreams are easily forgotten. I've never really remembered a dream unless it was either really good, or really bad, and I likely don't remember even those dreams all that accurately, just the basics of what they were about, maybe an image or something. Someone will have to remember everything, since I'm not sure that a telepathic warning from a dream will cause sufficient alarm in those who can change what happened to take the necessary actions to deal with Lysandre and Team Flare before they become powerful enough to basically run Kalos."

Leaf's expression became more serious. "You bring up some good points," she said. She looked over at John, Mewtwo, and the Creation Trio and saw that they were still talking with one another.

She then went back over to John to relay Ash's concerns, for they had now become _her_ concerns. When she arrived, she asked, "Father, what measures have you taken to ensure that this won't just happen again?"

John gave a knowing smile. "Is that what's troubling Ash?"

"Among other things," Leaf answered. "And me," she added quietly.

"Well, that's why I'm still here, actually," John answered. "Mewtwo, Dialga, and Palkia alone, are already enough to telepathically transmit all of the memories of this time here. We can get the memories of Captain Falcon and the Kongs easily enough with Dialga and Palkia's help. The issue, however, is to ensure that the true threat is defeated before it becomes a threat that changes time. Since Mewtwo was in a realm outside of the normal space-time continuum when he came here, and when all of the destruction occurred, he may be able to transmit the information to our past selves, if not actually ensure that Dialga or another Pokémon can ensure that those who need to know what happened here will know so it can be averted in the past."

Leaf cast a confused glance at John as she listened to his seemingly complicated explanation. Sensing that his daughter was not comprehending what he had said, he simplified it, saying, "Mewtwo can telepathically transmit the information to our past selves. All we have to do is go to a realm outside of space and time that is in another universe, in this case, Subspace, to transmit the data to our past selves so we don't risk creating an alternate timeline since we'll be outside of the current timeline and in another universe all together. But, to ensure that everything goes well, I'll make sure that my past self finds out about what happened in this future so he can ensure that the proper changes occur."

"Well, make sure your past self knows that the Malamars are also a threat, not just Lysandre," Leaf told him. "If they manage to find out what we do, then all everything we're doing here will be in vain.

"I know," John assured her, smiling. His smile indicated that he viewed the Malamar Cult as the primary threat that actually had to be dealt with since they could go back and forth through time to undo any gains that the heroes made.

Leaf then nodded and looked over at Ash and Pikachu, who turned and glanced back at them. "It's time," she called over them. "Are you two ready to go?"

Ash smiled and nodded confidently. It was time to get this over with. "Ready when you are!"

"Pi-ka!" echoed, pumping his fist into the air.

"What do we have to do?" Ash finished.

Leaf smiled and then looked over to John. "Come over here," John answered. "We'll want everyone to be together for this."

Ash nodded and let Pikachu jump back onto his shoulder before running over to John and Leaf. When he arrived, he stood before them and waited. Mega Mewtwo Y then joined Ash and smiled. "So, what now?" Ash asked.

"You follow me into Subspace," came the man's answer.

"What's Subspace?" Ash asked, not having heard the term before.

"An alternate dimension even farther outside of the normal space-time continuum than Dialga's Realm," John answered. "In order for our plan to work and us not just send this data back to an alternate past, we'll have to make sure that we do this outside of our own space-time continuum. While we should be able to do it in Dialga's Palkia's realms or even in the Distortion World, I'd rather not take the chance that the theory could be wrong."

"Can we survive in Subspace?" Ash asked. It would do no good if they were unable to survive in Subspace long enough to send the information to the past.

"Yes," John answered. "I've performed missions in Subspace for the better part of six years. Humans who enter Subspace through portals have nothing to worry about. It's only when Subspace Bombs detonate in realspace that you have to be concerned."

Ash did not know what a Subspace Bomb was, but he suspected that it was a bomb that let loose Subspace into what John had termed realspace, or why the soldier had mentioned it. He wondered if he would have to worry about such things inside Subspace. He did not think too much of it when he went over to John. He had other things to worry about, such as whether or not this plan would even work. Thinking about the plan, and the fact that they had to be so surreptitious about changing the timeline, he began to wonder if going back to a point just before he arrived in Kalos was such a good idea. If this all became nothing more than a dream, then these events would be forgotten. And as the saying went, _those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it_. Looking over at Leaf, he could tell that this issue was also on her mind. Either way, they had come too far to turn back now. He just hoped that if worst came to worst, that they would be able to fix any problems again if need be.

Once the teens were ready, they went over to John and stood by him as he pulled out a device that looked like a ball. He then placed it on the ground and stood back as it opened up, transforming into a golden ring that could hold the entire party. In the center of the ring was glowing blue light that illuminated the entire area. Streaks of light shown forth from the ring and there was a high-pitched ringing sound emanating from the ring. John was the first to step into the ring, showing that it was safe for the others. Next, Mewtwo followed, then Leaf, and finally, Ash and Pikachu entered the ring.

Once they were all inside the ring, shafts of light shot up besides them and then converged until they had formed a crystal of light around the heroes. They were then lifted a few feet into the air and began to spin around as the sound became fainter but also higher in pitch. They then spun around several times before the sound stopped and they rocketed into the sky before disappearing from the realm, the ring promptly disappearing, leaving no trace of their presence in the realm.

Ash and the others reappeared in what looked to be the middle of a dark realm. The warp crystal lowered them to the ground that looked to be purple and deposited them a few inches above it, where it dispersed and allowed them to touch down on the solid, almost marble-like ground. Ash and Leaf gazed around at the scene before them and knew that this was a completely alien realm to them.

"Welcome to Subspace everyone," John told them. "Here, we are outside the normal space-time continuum. Here, we can safely send a message to the past to warn our past selves about the disaster that is to come. That act, combined with a wish I made on the Triforce, as well as the power of the Star Rod, will transform all of this into a dream. Hopefully, some will remember the dream and take steps to avoid the mistakes that led to the tragic events of the past few days."

After a few seconds, a dark purple vortex opened, Dialga emerging from the vortex and landing softly on the marble-like ground. After emerging from the vortex, the Temporal Pokémon took a few seconds to gaze at the surroundings to ensure that there were no threats. Mewtwo also extended his own senses to ensure that there were no unexpected surprises waiting for them. Fortunately, and somewhat surprisingly, there were not. Still, he did not want to dally any longer.

"Everyone, we should do this now," he told the others. "I can't sense anything here right now, but there's no way to tell if something else won't come in the future. I don't want to be caught unawares."

Ash and the other agreed and went to stand by John's side. Once they joined John's side, the man looked at each of them and smiled, his helmet concealing his face. "There's still something else we need to do," John added.

"What's that?" Mewtwo asked.

"We need to bring Captain Falcon and the Kongs here. They were present with Leaf when we began this quest and they're also Chosen Heroes so they need to know that the dream was not just a dream. We can't risk them saying, 'don't worry, it was just a nightmare,' to Leaf when these events become a dream."

"Can you bring them quickly?"

The Creation Trio nodded for John. "We can bring them here before the Earth is destroyed."

"Do so quickly," Mewtwo stated quickly. "I don't want to spend any longer here than I have to."

The Creation Trio nodded and soon, Dialga and Palkia went to use their signature attacks, Roar of Time and Spacial Rend, respectively. They fired the attacks into the air and when they collided, a pink and purple vortex formed in front of them. Mewtwo's eyes then flashed and Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Captain Falcon immediately appeared in the midst of the group. They looked around and their eyes went wide at the scene.

"What the…? What happened? Where are we?" Diddy asked almost in shock.

Captain Falcon and Donkey Kong also glanced at their surroundings, not recognizing the location, either, or the Creation Trio and Mewtwo. "You are in Subspace," came John's reply, causing the new arrivals to turn towards the armored soldier.

As the group saw the soldier approach, they noticed something familiar about him. Eventually, Captain Falcon stated, "You're the soldier that contacted us two years ago in Lumiose City."

"Yes," John answered, nodding. "It was my hope to avoid what happened to Earth and its people. But now, we have an opportunity to undo those events."

"What do you need from us?" Donkey Kong asked.

"Merely open your minds to Mewtwo," John answered, pointing to the cat-like Psychic-type Pokémon. "Mewtwo can relay your memories of the events that have happened in the past two years to your past selves in the form of a dream. With help of Arceus and the others, we can do this for the entire universe."

"Won't that cause a temporal paradox or create a new timeline?" Captain Falcon inquired.

"That's why we're doing it _here_ ," John answered. "Subspace is outside of the normal space-time continuum. Here, we can go into one's past and affect it, creating a loophole that should allow us to affect our own past. Still, we need you to volunteer your memories of this since it will be nothing more than a dream. However, if everyone has the same dream, then things will start looking suspicious. I can't go into full detail now since Mewtwo wants us to get underway, but suffice to say, you'll all take notice once you wake up to the same, exact dream."

That was good enough for Captain Falcon and he nodded. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong glanced at each other, but when thinking about the damage already done to Earth, as well as the damage about to be done, they figured that no matter how farfetched this plan seemed, it was better than waiting for Earth to die. Eventually, they nodded in approval, indicating that the group should continue with the plan.

Mewtwo then looked at the group and told them, "If there are any last words you hope stays with them once this is done, now's the time to say them."

Leaf then turned to Ash and smiled. Likewise, Ash turned to Leaf and smiled, saying, "I know we've just met and all, but I can't help but feel as if I know you from somewhere."

Leaf gave a hopeful at Ash's statement and waited for him to continue. When he did not, she suppressed a groan, something that Pikachu failed to do. "Pika Pikapi. Pi-ka kachu," Pikachu almost groaned as he looked over at Leaf and could see the resemblance between her and Ash.

Ash gave Pikachu a bashful smile. "There are times I really wish I knew what you were sayin'," Ash told him.

"Well, as I said before, there are some great Pokémon to human language translation software programs developed by Silph Corporation in Kanto," Leaf suggested.

"Too bad we won't remember this conversation when I wake up two years in the past," Ash lamented.

"You never know," Leaf told him, trying to keep him positive. "Perhaps you'll remember this suggestion. Maybe someone else will even suggest it to you in the past."

"Yeah, maybe," Ash answered with a smile.

A sound that resembled the boom of thunder then echoed across the landscape as the group turned and saw a portal that led to Kalos, albeit Kalos of the past, Dialga standing close to the portal, focusing its power on it so that the portal would remain stable. This Kalos was still in pristine condition. The Ultimate Weapon had yet to even be discovered, much less fired by a misanthrope like Lysandre. Ash recognized it as being the day that he had arrived in Kalos, so long ago, relatively speaking, even though it had only happened a couple years ago. Next, he saw a second portal open to the same point in time, but to a different location. Ash looked past Dialga and saw Palkia appear, helping its supposed enemy rival to keep the portal stable and allow for there to be two portals open to the same point in time, but two different points in space.

He then saw Mewtwo take in a deep breath. The Psychic-type Pokémon then exhaled and his eyes started to glow as he telepathically sent all of the information and memories from the past two years to the past in the form of a dream. He made contact with the minds of Ash, Leaf, the Kongs, Captain Falcon, Serena, as well as that of John, whose eyes were closed as he reclined in his chair at a desk in a hotel room. All of them received the knowledge of the future that had come to pass. Just then, the portal closed.

Once it closed, John looked over at Mewtwo and gave a wistful smile. Mewtwo smiled back at him. "Well, you'd better send me back into battle against Aglara and Aramon before this all disappears."

John nodded and gripped the Star Rod tightly, making a wish on it. With that wish, Mewtwo then vanished before everyone's eyes as he was sent back into the Warp Zone to continue his battle against the two Magic Lords.

Once Mewtwo had been returned to the Warp Zone, John then looked at everyone and told them, "It won't be long before the changes start taking effect and you all wake up. If you have anything you wish to say, say it now."

Pikachu then turned to Ash and Mia and told them, "Pikapi, Pii-ka kapi. Pikaka kachu chuchu pika kachu."

Ash could only smile bashfully at hearing Pikachu. "I really have to remember to get one of those software programs when I wake up." He then looked over at Leaf and told her, "I know I've said this before, but there's something really familiar about you. Have I met you before?"

"Yes," Leaf answered, giving a hopeful smile.

As she said that, Ash noticed that the world seemed to be going white, as if he were being whisked away to another location. "Then who are you and where have we met?" he called, as the sounds began to grow fainter and fainter as the conversation between John and Mewtwo became quieter and quieter. A ringing sound began to echo around Ash that was quickly rising in pitch and volume.

My name is Mia," came the girl's answer as the world was turning white. "Mia Ket-…" but she never got to finish before the entire world turned white and disappeared, becoming nothing more than a dream.

Her eyes slowly opened quickly to the pecking of the family Fletchling. Serena scowled as she turned to the bird-like Pokémon and grumbled, annoyed at having been awakened so early. Her annoyance almost caused her to miss the moist sensation coming from her eyes. She rubbed her eyes and felt the water come off of them. She then looked down at her pillow and saw some wet stains on it, which surprised her. Had she been crying? Why would she be crying while asleep? What could cause her to cry while asleep?

Just then, the memory of a dream came back into her mind. She tried to remember what it was about, but it was already slipping away. All she really remembered was the face of a boy she had met a while ago on a trip to Kanto to Professor Oak's Summer Camp. Ash had helped her after she had injured her knee after being startled by a Pokémon. She smiled at the memory of the boy. Still, that was no reason for her to be crying. She thought little of it and leaned up to look around her room. She turned to see her digital clock, which read 7:00 A.M. 7:00 A.M.? She almost gasped as she realized that she had overslept. She had to hurry and get dressed so she could get to school or she would be late!

As she went to get dressed, more and more details of the dream she had had the night before were coming back to her. She remembered having been a Pokémon Performer and idol. She almost chuckled. She hated singing so she could never imagine herself as an idol, even though she was a good dancer. More than that, she did not even know what a Pokémon Performer was. She had heard of Contests trying to make inroads to Kalos, but so far, the Pokémon Leagues and activities were restricted to battling activities, which she knew the Contests in Hoenn and Sinnoh did have.

She was putting the finishing touches to her school uniform when she remembered how she had quit Sky Trainer Academy because she had been under the influence of some…Malamars? Yes, that was it! At least, that was how it had been in the dream. Still, a sense of foreboding came to her and she began to worry that that part of the dream might not have been a dream after all. She quickly checked her schedule and looked for her backpack, textbooks, and study materials, hoping that she still had them and had not accidentally withdrawn from the Sky Trainer Academy. And if the unthinkable had happened and she had done so, that she could reenroll into the academy once again.

She then went to check the date on her calendar. It was May twenty-first. That was close to commencement. She could not afford to make a mistake and not commence to the next grade level. She still had a year to go in the academy before she could graduate. The last thing she wanted was to be held back a year.

Wasting no time, she got her books together and rushed down the stairs, flying past her mother, who was surprised by the blur of motion passing her. Still, she smiled, glad to see Serena getting out of bed so quickly. "Serena, looking forward to practicing Rhyhorn Racing today?" She knew that Serena did not like Rhyhorn Racing and was doing everything she could to get out of it, but if Serena kept at it, she could have been a skilled Rhyhorn Racer. After all, before she had gone to Sky Trainer Academy, she had been training in Rhyhorn Racing, until the incident that had landed her father in the hospital and temporarily paralyzed. He had been in the hospital for a while during his healing process as they managed to reconnect his vertebrae and heal him of his paralysis.

"No," Serena answered her mother as she hastily ran by her. "I'm late for school! Bye!"

The girl then ran out the door and rushed past the family Rhyhorn, sleeping in a little doghouse-like house on the side of the sidewalk. The Rhyhorn looked up as Serena rushed by, running up the sidewalk and then turning to run down the street as quickly as she could, hoping that she had not, in fact, withdrawn from the Sky Trainer Academy, and if she had done so, that she could be reenrolled into the academy.

It took her about ten minutes to reach the academy, though given how fast she had run to get there, it was farther away than it appeared and she probably broke the world record for the distance between her house and the academy. When she arrived, she rushed inside, ignoring all of the other students and faculty as she rushed into the principal's office, shoving the door open when she arrived. After she had entered the office, she slumped forward, taking in many deep breaths, her world record run catching up to her.

"Serena, is everything okay?" the principal asked, surprised to see her in his office out of breath as if she had run a marathon. The principal was a man in his mid fifties, dressed in a nice suit with the emblem of the Sky Trainer Academy on his jacket.

"Oh mister Johnston, please tell me I'm still enrolled in the academy," she pleaded.

He gave her a knowing smile. "I always felt that there was something off about that withdrawal letter," he told her. The mention of her withdrawal letter caused her heart to sink and she nearly fainted, barely catching herself. "Don't worry, I didn't put your letter through, though you have used up all of your sick days and have some catching up to do before exams and commencement. However, knowing you, you'll do just fine. If you need any help, don't hesitate to ask anyone, including me. We all know you've been through a stressful time."

"Thank you for everything, sir," Serena answered, bowing. She then looked at him and asked, "Sir, if I may ask; why _did_ I initially withdraw in the first place? Did I give a reason?"

"No," the principal answered, shaking his head. "That was the first red flag in your withdrawal. Why do you ask?"

"Because, and this is going to sound strange, I had a dream last night about three Malamars that mind-controlled me into withdrawing from this academy so I wouldn't become a Pokémon Trainer. Why they would not want me to be a Pokémon Trainer, I can't remember."

The principal looked at her intently and before giving a knowing smile. "Hmm. We always suspected that there was something strange about your withdrawal, you being at the top of your class, seeming to enjoy your time here, and all. Now, it's beginning to make sense. Your dream seems to be the missing piece in our investigation. Thank you Serena. And welcome back."

"Thank you for accepting me back, sir," Serena answered with another bow.

"The pleasure is all ours."

Serena gave Mr. Johnston one last smile and a bow as she heard the bell ring. She quickly picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. She then departed the principal's office and went to her first class for the day, happy and relieved to be back at school, something most children would never have felt at all. However, for her, this was home. She was finally back where she belonged. And the sense of relief she felt could not be put into words. All was right with the world.

Meanwhile, in a plane flying over continental Europe, Ash Ketchum had been sleeping during his trip to the Kalos Region. Sitting to his left was Pikachu, who was still sound asleep, though he was stirring in such a way that indicated that his dream was anything but pleasant. Sitting to Ash's right was Alexa, a reporter from the Kalos Region who had brown hair and dark green eyes. She looked down at him and saw tears rolling down his eyes while he was asleep. Troubled by his crying, she tapped his shoulder and jostled him awake, the boy slowly opening his eyes.

As Ash opened his eyes, he attempted to get his bearings, his vision being distorted by the tears. He rubbed his eyes, drawing his hands away in surprise when he felt more moisture on them than he had expected. Still, his vision was now clear and he saw that he was on an airplane. He looked around the cabin and saw the passengers sitting patiently in their seats, some of them asleep, others reading, yet others listening to music.

"Glad to see you're awake," he heard Alexa say from the seat next to him.

Ash looked at his hands, which were still moist and he remembered the sensation in his eyes as he had awakened. "Was I crying?" he asked, looking up at her. He could not fathom why he would be crying but that was the only explanation.

"That's what it looked like," Alexa answered. "What were you dreaming about?"

"Dream?" Ash asked, not remembering any dream. Then suddenly, it hit him. All of the memories of the dream started to come back into his mind for a brief moment before they faded away. All he could remember from these memories, though, was sadness, loss, and the death of friends. He then tried to think of the date, but could not remember it.

"Alexa, what's the date?"

"Uh, May twenty-first, 2642."

Ash breathed a sigh of relief. It was the day just before his birthday. The fleeting memory of a birthday party entered his mind as Alexa gave the date. So whatever had happened in that dream that was so tragic had yet to happen. Perhaps there was a way to prevent whatever disaster had led to tears. As he was thinking about this, he almost began to chuckle. He was growing so worried about a dream as if that dream was not so much a dream as it was a vision of things to come. Well, whatever the case may have been, today was a new day and he would live it to the fullest. Still, he could not help but think about his mother back home in Pallet Town. He had left on the eve of his birthday, something that must have hurt, now that he thought about it. His thinking back to his mother surprised him since he had always been adventurous, rarely returning home. He then sighed. He was a lot like his father in that respect, or what he believed his father to be, and he was beginning to wonder if that was such a good thing. He then shook off the feelings. He would worry about them later. For the moment, he decided to sit back and enjoy the rest of the flight. They would be landing not too long from now.

As for Pikachu, his rest had been anything but restful as he had been shuddering and seemingly holding back tears as well, doing a better job of it than Ash. As soon as Ash had sat back in his chair, Pikachu's eyes shot open and he looked around attempting to figure out where he was. He soon heard the dull roar of jet engines and he looked to his right to find Ash sitting in his seat, the Pokémon letting out a sigh of relief. Ash looked over at him and found that he had finally awakened.

"Finally up, huh?" the boy noted.

"Pi-ka-chu," Pikachu answered in a cheerful tone. Ash could only smile. He figured that Pikachu must not have had the same nightmare that he had; or if he had, he must not have remembered it as vividly as Ash had. Ash then thought back to the nightmare and could feel the last vestiges of the memories fading away, leaving his mind. He then sat back and relaxed and enjoyed the rest of his flight.

Meanwhile, over in Lumiose City in the Kalos Region of France, Leaf, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Captain Falcon woke up in unison with a start after the strange flash had put them all to sleep for a few minutes. After they awakened, they looked around still disoriented from the flash. Before doing anything else, they made certain that they were still inside the same building. Their location was confirmed when Starmie and Chandelure rushed down from the upstairs of the building and confirmed that only a few minutes had passed and that there was no residual issues with them, the images and feeling being communicated to everyone present via telepathy. Still, that gave them little comfort, especially since the dream that they had been experiencing was still vivid in their minds. Unlike with Ash and Serena, they were able to remember individual parts of the dream, assuming that it had, in fact, been a dream, rather than a prophecy or even a potential future that they had just lived through.

"Okay, so what happened just now?" Diddy Kong asked, still feeling disoriented at having been put to sleep by the datapads, as well as having the last thing he remembered in the dream being fighting against Cyrus's cronies before being whisked away to some strange dimension.

"Stun grenades can put people to sleep but they're orbs and the stun field generator can't be made as thin as a datapad," Captain Falcon answered.

Leaf then looked at her watch and saw that only a few minutes had passed. "We were asleep for only a few minutes," Leaf added. "And according to Starmie and Chandelure, nothing happened while we were out since we're still in the building and they can't sense anything strange outside."

"Still, I don't like this," Donkey Kong said ominously.

"I don't either," Diddy echoed.

Captain Falcon and Leaf both nodded in agreement.

"Besides, that dream I had was very vivid and seemed real, too real," Leaf added.

"What was your dream about?" Diddy asked, though he had a feeling in the back of his mind that he already knew the answer.

"It was about my life from this point on to two years in the future, give or take," Leaf answered. "I participated in numerous competitions, but the most vivid parts of the dream took place within a day or so at the end, where Europe was destroyed, I met my brother again, though he didn't remember me, long story." She scowled when she said that, indicating that his lack of memory of her had been a point of contention between the two of them. "Anyway, in the end, the last part of my memory was just after Cyrus of Team Galactic had been defeated for the final time. I went into another dimension, saw my father, and we went to rewrite time. The enemy in the dream was a man named Lysandre, the leader of a group called Team Flare. I think he was the one who destroyed Europe and killed by brother's girlfriend. You all were in the dreams, too, fighting against some strange trees that were growing and draining life from the land. We managed to beat some of them, but the others were able to fire off some energy pulses that would destroy all life on Earth or something along those lines."

The others' eyes went wide as Leaf described her dream, for they all had had similar dreams. And the part where she talked about battling the trees came directly out of their own dreams, especially the part where she said that they had fought beside her.

[Hey, we had the same dreams, too,] her Pokédex vocal translation software said in the voice that was designated to Tyranitar.

Leaf looked over at Tyranitar and Venusaur, the latter of which nodded, echoing Tyranitar's statement.

"So, what should we do next?" Donkey Kong asked.

"I don't know," Leaf answered. "But if this was a trap of some sort, it was a bad one. We're still here."

A grin then crossed Captain Falcon's lips. "Then maybe we can turn the tables on whoever did this, assuming they intended us harm."

"Yeah," Donkey Kong echoed in a low voice. Diddy drew out his Peanut Popguns, indicating his agreement with his allies' sentiments.

"We don't know if they did," Leaf countered sagely. "If that dream was a vision of things to come or an alternate future, then this may have been a failsafe should we have failed to stop the enemy in the future."

"True," the others admitted.

"Still, we should be ready for anything. "I remember a dangerous enemy in the dream called, Malamars was it?" she asked, trying to recall the dream but finding it tough to do so. "Either way, we should be ready for anything."

The others nodded. Leaf then called back her remaining Pokémon friends, the team assembling downstairs and forming up around the group. If anyone came looking to do them harm, they would be in for a big surprise.

Meanwhile, in a hotel room inside Lumiose City, a man with black hair and blue eyes named John had only dozed off for a few minutes, but in those few minutes, he had lived for two years in a dream, or rather, a nightmare as it had become. Much like for Leaf, the Kongs, and Captain Falcon, the dream had been vivid to the point of it seemingly being a previous life, or rather, what life would become if he or they did nothing to change it. Unlike them, though, he had full memory of what had happened in the dream, he retained the full memories of having lived that life that was now reduced to being a dream for the others. He grinned. The wish on the Star Rod had worked. That, along with the telepathic power of Mewtwo, was sufficient for him to not only know what had happened, but to be able to prepare a strategy for undoing the tragedy of the destruction of Kalos.

John immediately stood up and went over to his desk. There, he activated his computer, turning it on and checking through all of the contacts he had both from his time as a Pokémon Master as well as a member of the Subspace Army. He then began a search for a trio of Malamars known as the Malamar Cult. He had to make contact with them as quickly as possible. Ostensibly, he was going to warn them of a grave threat to their plans, one that was powerful enough to destroy them and would hunt them down before they could master the power of time travel. In reality, though, their deaths would be the key to ultimately undoing Lysandre's future plans. Still, he had to make sure that they did not realize that they were walking to their own destruction. In addition, he had to force a meeting between Ash and his sister, Mia, and use that to show Serena what she could become if she became a Pokémon Trainer. And finally, he needed to make contact with the Pokémon Ash would have acquired in Kalos, those that were currently alive, for they would be a great boon to his team in the future.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25:

Back in Kalos, Leaf, her Pokémon team, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Captain Falcon huddled around the table, each one looking at the entrance, anticipating something to happen. Leaf had already told Starmie and Chandelure to open their psychic senses to see if they could detect any potential assailants approaching. So far, they had sensed nothing but that did not mean that no one was coming. If the enemy was a Dark-type Pokémon, then there was little that Starmie and Chandelure could do to detect it unless it was using non-Dark-type techniques and was also pretty close. By the time they would have detected the Pokémon, it would have already been upon them.

Soon, soft chimes began to sound from the table, prompting the group to turn back to it. When they did so, they saw the three datapads each shoot up beams of light into the air, the beams converging on each other and forming a hologram in the center of the table. The hologram showed a man dressed in a black bodysuit with a black helmet with an orange visor covering his face. The man looked almost identical to a United Earth Stealth Marine. As they looked at the man, each of the heroes present could have sworn that they had seen him from somewhere before. Could it have been from that dream?

"Greetings, everyone," the man began, bowing before them, prompting their eyes to go wide, for they the memory of this greeting was also in their mind,. "Now that we are all together, let us come to the point of our meeting. Captain Douglas Jay Falcon, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Leaf. Chosen Heroes," the figure proclaimed. "The Malamar Cult, a trio of evil Malamars are coming to kill you and are about to attack. Defend yourselves! They are powerful and are the reason you were summoned here. They are the threat you must destroy! Do not take them lightly." With that, the image disappeared and the datapads powered down.

The group's eyes went wide for a moment before Captain Falcon blurted, "You heard him, everyone, get ready!"

The others nodded and took up defensive positions behind the table and other pieces of furniture that were sparsely placed around the room. It did not make great cover, but it was something. As they were taking cover, Captain Falcon drew out a Freeze Gun, a weapon that had a barrel with a small nodule underneath it that did not extend as far as the regular barrel, and searched the group to see if anyone needed an extra weapon. Donkey Kong drew out his Coconut Shooter, with Diddy Kong drawing out his Peanut Popguns. Looking over at Leaf, he saw that she did not have a weapon. He then gripped the Freeze Gun Gun's barrel and offered it to Leaf, asking, "Do you need a weapon?"

"Thanks," Leaf said, accepting the weapon.

"Remember…"

"…only point it at the enemy and always treat it as if it's powered up and ready to shoot," Leaf finished. Her father had drilled that into her head when he had taught her and her brother to shoot when they were younger. She had a healthy respect for firearms but, unlike many her age, she had experience using them and while she hoped it would not come down to a fight, she knew that a battle was all but certain.

"Everyone, get ready," Leaf told her team. "When those Malamars come in, unleash your strongest single target ranged attacks on them. Use type advantages if necessary," she added, looking over at Jolteon. For some reason, she had a feeling that Jolteon would have a significant advantage over the Malamars. She then looked over at Starmie and ordered, "Starmie, use Ice Beam against those Malamars the moment they enter the building. Don't worry about using any other attack. We can shatter them once they're frozen."

Starmie nodded and waited behind a sofa, extending its senses to see if it could sense anything and try to give the others a heads up for when the enemy came. For a few moments, it could sense nothing out of the ordinary, but then, a sensation came to it and it relayed to the others that the atmosphere had changed. There was a feeling of power that was approaching fast. It was psychic in nature, which it quickly relayed to the others. That was their cue to clear their mind of all thoughts, reacting solely on instinct, for they did not want to give their enemy a heads up on the fact that they were ready for them.

After a second of waiting, the group noticed a blue glow surround the door that led out the building. They immediately steeled themselves, preparing to react to whatever they would face while doing their best to keep their minds clear so as to not give their attackers any advantages. As the blue glow began to get stronger, the door began to warp, almost as if the enemy was trying to rip it off its hinges before it entered. The rest of the group took aim at the door, ready to open fire into the chokepoint as Leaf's Pokémon also prepared to attack as well, the group also making sure that they were out of the potential flight path of the door should the enemy decide to propel the door inwards.

As if on cue, the door was immediately propelled inwards, flying through the air as not only a weapon against the defenders, but also as a shield against a direct attack. The moment the door came flying inwards, the attackers flooded in, consisting of three Malamars. The lead Malamar surged through the door, only to be met by a Signal Beam from Jolteon, which collided with the Pokémon, sending it flying back outside the building, where it crashed into the ground, barely conscious but still alive and potentially able to fight, a look of utter shock etched on its face as it had not expected its targets to be aware of their coming. That did not bode well for the other two Malamars, who had to jump out of the way to avoid their comrade. Still, they felt confident that they could take on the heroes inside. After all, they were psychics and the others were not, at least, not that they knew of.

The two other Malamars quickly flooded into the room, attempting to use their hypnotic abilities to take control of the Pokémon and other defenders present. This did not work well for them, for both Leaf and Donkey Kong had incredibly strong minds and wills, both of them quickly shrugging off the attempt at hypnotizing them. The defenders then opened fire on the two Malamars, Leaf firing her freeze gun at them. The icy blue beam scored a direct hit on the Malamar on the right and a sheet of ice began to form over its chest. It attempted to use Psychic to wrest the gun from Leaf's grasp, but its concentration was interrupted as it endured an assault from Donkey Kong's Coconut Shooter as it was pelted by numerous coconuts. This allowed Leaf to continue firing on it until the sheet of ice spread all around its body and eventually, it was fully encased in ice. A final barrage of coconuts from DK's Coconut Shooter was all that was needed to knock the Pokémon over, causing it to shatter into thousands of icy shards. The other Malamar fared no better.

The other Malamar endured an Ice Beam from Starmie as the starfish-like Pokémon's beam of freezing energy scored a direct hit on the squid-like Pokémon's head. Its head was quickly encased in ice, the sheet quickly spreading all around the Malamar's body until it, too, was reduced to an ice statue. Tyranitar finished it off by using Stone Edge to cause a large number of stones to erupt from the ground right beneath the frozen Malamar. The sudden eruption of the stones thrust Malamar into the air, where it crested a dozen feet above the stones before falling back onto the jagged rocks, shattering into a thousand pieces on impact.

The lead Malamar had watched from just outside the entrance in horror at the scene that had unfolded. In less than a minute, its two comrades had been killed and it was in no condition to fight after taking a direct hit from that Jolteon's Signal Beam, which had a quadruple type advantage against it. How could it have come to this? They had been warned of the threat posed by the group inside that building, particularly the girl, but they were told that they would not have encountered each other for a very long time. How could they have known that they were coming? They were part Dark-type Pokémon. That girl's Starmie should not have been able to detect them. Not even the Chandelure should have been able to sense them since it would have been restricted to using Psychic to do so. That was when the Malamar seethed. It had been a setup from the beginning. That was the only explanation that made sense. Their so-called benefactor must have figured out their goals, as well as their plans for accomplishing said goals and was wanting to get them out of the way before they could get a chance to accomplish them. And right now, those goals were in mortal peril, for two of its comrades were dead and it was in no condition to fight, much less fight against what amounted to a small army. It quickly realized that it only had one option.

It telepathically scanned the area to see if there was any place that it could safely escape to even if the girl and the others followed, which it knew they would. It could try to reach the reinforcements that it had paid in gold to attack the girl and her party, but it wondered if even the might of the reinforcements would be sufficient to stop the girl and her party. Still, it was better than nothing. With that, the remaining Malamar rose and fled down the street to the south, headed towards Rouge Plaza.

Inside the building, Leaf and the others glanced around at each other to make sure that no one was injured during the battle. "Everyone okay?" Leaf called.

"We're fine here," Donkey Kong answered for himself and Diddy Kong, who nodded in agreement.

"I'm fine," Captain Falcon answered, saluting the girl and the Kongs.

Leaf then turned to her Pokémon friends, who all gave cries indicating that they, too, were fine. After checking on everyone, the datapads activated once again and the figure appeared once more. "Go after that Malamar," the figure blurted. "You must kill it. It's too dangerous to let live. If it escapes, it will do its best to undo these events and try to kill you, along with the rest of the region. You must stop it at all costs."

Leaf nodded, as did the others. "Understood," she said. She then took out some Poké Balls and returned all of her Pokémon save for Garchomp, Chandelure, and Starmie. She then told Starmie and Chandelure, "After that Malamar. We have to stop it before it escapes."

The Pokémon bobbed up and down in the affirmative and proceeded to pursue the fleeing Malamar. As they did so, Leaf mounted Garchomp, who promptly took off into the air and followed after the Malamar. Captain Falcon then proceeded to rush out the door and get into the Blue Falcon, powering up the vehicle before joining Leaf and the others in pursuit. As for Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, Diddy used his jetpack to rocket into the air while Donkey Kong proceeded to run after the others as quickly as possible.

As for the Malamar, it continued down the street, heading towards Rouge Plaza, extending its psychic senses to see if it was being pursued. Sure enough, it was able to sense Starmie and Chandelure in hot pursuit, along with Leaf and the others not far behind. It grimaced. If help were going to come, it would have to come quickly. Unfortunately, the trio had not taken control of many Pokémon to assist in the attack, a mistake that they would not have made had they known that their targets had known that they were coming and had made preparations. Still, it did have one option. An acquaintance of theirs, Xerosic, was part of an organization that had a great deal of Trainers, one of them being an Elite Four member. If anyone could stop the heroes that were pursuing it, it would be them. It extended its psychic senses to make sure that Xerosic was at the café. Indeed, the scientist was there, as were the rest of the group, along with two others. All it had to do now was reach them before Leaf and her friends caught up, which seemed to be increasingly unlikely, which was proven as a blast of ice barely missed it, striking the ground right in front of it, forcing it to swerve to the side in order to avoid being frozen. Telepathically scanning the area, it was able to sense Leaf riding her Garchomp, being flanked by that Starmie and her Chandelure. It was now a race to Lysandre Labs, and it would do everything in its power to make sure that it reached the lab alive.

Meanwhile, over at the Lumiose Airport, a jetliner touched down and was coming to a halt on the runway. After the plane had come to a complete stop and its engine was powering down, the boarding hatch opened and a set of stairs was being pushed next to the hatch. Once the stairs were in place, Ash Ketchum appeared in the doorway and came out, standing on the top of the stairs, looking out over at Lumiose City. He was clad in the same attire that he had arrived in Lumiose City in the dream. A part of him wanted to shout, "Heeey Kalos Region! Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town is finally here!" as loudly as he could muster, but something held him back. He looked around and thought that the city looked familiar despite the fact that he had never been to Lumiose City before, or the Kalos Region, for that matter. Standing next to him was Pikachu, who noticed that Ash did not seem to be himself. He looked up at Ash and noticed that Ash's face was almost blank.

"Pikapi? Pikachu?" Pikachu asked.

Ash did not know what Pikachu was asking, but he suspected that he was wondering if he was okay. He considered the question for a moment, trying to answer that question, himself.

Coming up behind him was Alexa, who looked at Ash quizzically as he was silent, something that surprised her since he usually displayed a tremendous amount of exuberance and confidence. "Ash, is everything okay?" she asked.

Her question snapped him out of his funk and shook off his feelings of déjà vu. "Yeah, I'm fine," he eventually answered. "Well, let's get going. Where's the closest gym?"

"There's a gym in Lumiose City," Alexa answered. "It's in the Prism Tower in the center of the city."

Ash said nothing as he began to make his way down the stairs when the sounds of battle erupted off in the distance. Suddenly, a strange feeling came over him and he turned to Alexa and asked, "Hey Alexa, what's over there?" He pointed towards off into the distance.

"That's Magenta Plaza," Alexa answered. "It has a Pokémon Center as well as a strange café called the Lysandre Café. The café is also the entryway to Lysandre Labs, which is the producer of the Holo Caster. However, it's also the subject of numerous rumors. The closest Pokémon Center, though, is the North Pokémon Center along North Boulevard. Chances are that you'd probably want to go there. Not many people go to Magenta Plaza nowadays if they can help it."

"Thanks," Ash responded.

"Well, I have to go make a call. My sister wanted me to contact her once I landed," Alexa told Ash. "After that I'll have to go and write up my report at the Lumiose Press. I hope we'll see each other again soon."

"Thanks again, Alexa," Ash responded.

With that, Alexa departed the area, heading off to the east while Ash headed towards the Pokémon Center. "Pika pika?" Pikachu asked, noticing that Ash was not headed towards the sounds of battle, something that was out of character for him.

"I have a feeling we'll need reinforcements for this one," Ash said ominously. "It should only take a minute or so." He then rushed in the direction of North Boulevard so he could get to the Pokémon Center, hoping that if there was, indeed, a problem that he would not be too late.

Meanwhile, over in Magenta Plaza, Argus and Millis Steel approached the Lysandre Café. They had been shocked when they had gotten the job from Lysandre. He was willing to pay them one billion Poké Dollars for a single Poké Ball: the GS Ball. The father/daughter team did not know, or care, why Lysandre was so interested in a simple Poké Ball. They figured that whatever was inside must have been valuable, but they did not dwell on it. The only thing they dwelled on was the one billion Poké Dollar reward for bringing him the ball. They had heard the sounds of battle off in the distance, but they figured that it was just two Pokémon Trainers duking it out in one of the back alleys and thought nothing of it.

The duo entered the Lysandre Café, the door closing behind them with an attendant proceeding to turn the 'open' sign to its 'closed' side and lock the door. Aside from the attendant and the thieves, it appeared as if the café was deserted save for a couple people working the counter. Looking across the room, they were promptly met by Lysandre, himself. He was holding a briefcase in his hand. When he saw the two thieves, he glowered at them.

"So, do you have it?" he asked succinctly.

"You have the money?" Argus retorted.

Lysandre went over to a table, placed the briefcase on it, and opened it. "One billion Poké Dollars, as promised."

Argus and Millis went over to the briefcase and when they saw the money, Poké Dollar sighs practically lit up in their eyes. "My gosh! We could by a small moon with this," Millis exclaimed, looking up at her father.

"Only if it was claimed by the Pokémon World," Argus retorted.

Lysandre then shut the briefcase hard, almost closing it on the teenaged girl's fingers, who had almost miraculously withdrawn them from the money in time. "Hey, what was that for?" the girl blurted.

"Do you have what you promised?" Lysandre asked in an even tone, though his expression left no doubt as to what would happen to the Steels if they tried to take the money and run without giving him what he asked for, or if they tried to cheat him.

"Right here," Argus answered, reaching into his pocket, prompting one of the workers at the bar to reach underneath it and grip a hidden pistol. Lysandre's expression did not change as the thief reached into his pocket. He knew that he could stop the two of them if they tried to either cheat him or worse. The thief then took his hand out, producing a single Poké Ball with a gold top half and a white bottom half with the letters G and S inscribed on the top half. "The GS Ball, just as we promised."

"Open it," Lysandre ordered.

Argus put his finger on the ball's button in its center and tried to open it, likely to release whatever was inside the ball. Much to his surprise, he could not open it. He looked at Lysandre worriedly.

"I can't," he told the tall founder of Lysandre Labs and the leader of the burgeoning Team Flare.

"What?" Millis blurted, grabbing the GS Ball. She pushed the button as well, but it would not open. She then tried to pry it loose in order to open it, hoping to be able to prove that she and her father had, indeed, retrieved the GS Ball as required for their billion Poké Dollar payday. Try as she might, though, she was unable to do so. "Dad, get Honedge out here to open it," she suggested.

"That won't be necessary," Lysandre interjected. The two thieves looked over at him quizzically. "Give me the ball."

Millis was about to toss the ball over to Lysandre when the sounds of battle that the duo had heard in passing were getting much closer. "What the heck is that?" Millis blurted.

Lysandre immediately went to the window and saw a single Malamar flinging benches and other pieces of equipment towards a fast approaching Garchomp as it was fleeing towards the café. The Steels also approached the window and witnessed the battle unfolding. They also saw the Starmie and Chandelure flanking Garchomp not too far away. They also made out Leaf, who was riding on top of Garchomp. The two thieves looked up in horror, for they quickly recognized Leaf, knowing her reputation even though they were natives to Kalos.

"Oh crap," Millis swore. "Why'd it have to be Leaf?"

"Calm down," Argus told her, gripping her shoulders. "We still don't know if she's interested in us."

Lysandre scowled at the scene, for he recognized the Malamar as being an acquaintance of Xerosic's. "Get out there now," the Team Flare Boss told the two thieves. "The Malamar is an associate of a colleague of mine. If Leaf's after it, she'll be after me. If you help me deal with her, you'll get an extra one billion Poké Dollars in any form of currency you desire, from United Earth Dollars, to Credits, anything."

"Done!" Millis blurted. The prospect of being an additional one billion Poké Dollars richer was too much to pass up, even if she was going up against the Kanto League Champion.

"And we've got just the thing to hold her off," Argus added slyly. He then took out a small handheld radio and activated it, yelling, "Airship, get down here now and take Leaf out!"

"Roger, sir," a masculine voice crackled in over the radio.

All the while, Lysandre retreated back into Lysandre Labs while the café workers prepared themselves and readied two Poké Balls in case Leaf managed to get in.

Meanwhile, just outside the café, the Malamar was doing everything in its power to keep Leaf and her Pokémon at bay. It hurled everything from benches to loose metal to lampposts at the Garchomp, only for the Land Shark Pokémon to deftly dodge them. Still, the constant evasion made it difficult for Leaf to get a bead on her target and, as such, her next shot with her freeze gun went wide, creating a sheet of ice on the pavement scant inches away from the Malamar. The Malamar then zeroed in its gaze on the café with the orange roof, knowing that if it reached the café it would be safe, at least for a while. After all, Lysandre did not yet know of its true capability and while it did not yet have the power or skill to travel back and forth through time just yet, with a little more training, it would gain that ability and be able to undo this disaster that it was being forced to live through.

Up above the Malamar, Leaf had Garchomp descend to the ground to land, the girl quickly dismounting the Pokémon as she landed. Leaf landed softly on the ground and pursued the Malamar towards the building with the orange roof. Leaf saw that the Malamar was going for that building and began to wonder if the occupants of the building had been the ones that had sent the Malamar to try to kill her and the other heroes. Given the warning that her benefactor had given her and the others, she knew that she could not risk letting this Malamar get away.

She fired her freeze gun at the Pokémon, managing to score a glancing hit on the lower half of the squid-like Pokémon, a sheet of ice forming over the Pokémon's fin-like legs and lower abdomen. The Pokémon grimaced and grunted as it took the hit. Still, it was able to telekinetically open the building's door and escape into it.

Leaf was about to pursue when she heard a loud sound coming from above that resembled the sound of jet engines. Looking up, she saw an airship hovering above her and her Pokémon. That was when Captain Falcon, Donkey Kong, and Diddy Kong arrived as well. They looked up and their eyes went wide at the sight of the airship.

"Man, just when we were so close to ending this, too," Diddy lamented.

"Get ready, everyone," Captain Falcon alerted as he reached into a secret compartment and drew out a Steel Diver launcher. "Aim for the engines and weapons ports," he advised.

As he was going over the plans with everyone, the airship deployed several cannons and several missile ports opened as well. This was the heroes' cue to attack. Captain Falcon fired his Steel Diver at the missile ports while the cannons proceeded to swivel down to target the heroes. Leaf, Starmie, and Chandelure, however, had other plans as Leaf nodded towards them, indicating that they should use Psychic on the cannons. The two Pokémon used their telekinesis to cause the cannons to swivel towards two portions of the ship that were jutting out from the sides. The two sections had several stabilizer fins on them and when the cannons were in position, Starmie and Chandelure had them open fire on the ship, itself. Blue energy pulses erupted from the barrels of the cannons, slamming into the stabilizer fins of the ship, blowing them off in a single volley.

As for the missile ports, Captain Falcon fired his Steel Diver towards the ports, along with Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong firing hardened coconuts and peanuts into the missile ports, hoping to prematurely detonate the missiles while they were still in the ship. Their plan worked better than anticipated as the Steel Diver torpedoes detonated inside the missile ports, causing massive explosions inside the ship, itself. The explosions tore massive holes into the ship, shrapnel and flames spewing from the holes and what used to be the missile launchers. With the stabilizer fins having already been destroyed by the ship's own energy cannons, the ship began to spin in the air as it listed to the side. The ship looked to be bleeding from the missile ports, having suffered fatal wounds when the missile launchers had been destroyed and their missiles prematurely detonated. To make matters worse, several secondary explosions then rocked the ship, blowing even more holes into it, inflicting even more catastrophic damage. Jets of flame erupted from the new holes. To make matters worse, two of the engines were destroyed, dooming the ship to its death. At first, the remaining thrusters slowed the ship's semi-controlled descent but soon they cut out as two more explosions erupted, right where the thrusters used to be. The ship was now reduced to a massive paperweight and it dropped to the ground like a stone, slamming into an empty lot, its already compromised structural integrity collapsing in on itself upon impact. A couple seconds later, a series of massive explosions tore the ship apart, sending shrapnel flying in all directions, annihilating the ship.

Back inside the Lysandre Café, the Steels looked on in horror as their airship was destroyed. They looked over at the two café workers, who glared at them. "If you want the money, get out there and deal with them," the female worker, a waitress, told them.

"Are you nuts?" Millis blurted. "They just took down our airship! We're no match for them!"

"Then go at them sideways," the male retorted. "Use the secret exit so you can surprise them and kill them while they're distracted trying to get in."

Millis looked at the workers and then back at her father, an uncertain expression crossing her face. She had heard legends about Leaf and she was worried about the Starmie and Chandelure outside. Not only that, but they had the ape, monkey, and bounty hunter to deal with, too. Still, they were being offered one billion extra Poké Dollars in any form of currency they desired. "Don't worry," Argus assured his daughter. "We'll be able to take them out, assuming we get help," he added, looking over at the workers.

That was enough for the teenaged girl and she quickly deployed her Chesnaught, with Argus Steel letting out Honedge, Doublade, a Pokémon that looked like two crisscrossed swords; and Aegislash. As they went over towards the secret exit, they began to plan their attack on Leaf and the others, hoping to take out the girl before her Pokémon detected them and counterattacked.

Meanwhile, outside the café, Leaf and the others saw the steel plate lowering over the café's entrance and she quickly called out to her Pokémon, crying, "Everyone attack! Keep that thing from lowering!"

Starmie and Chandelure did as ordered and used Psychic to telekinetically prevent the steel plate from lowering. The motor strained against the telekinetic hold of the two Pokémon but the plate remained a few feet off the ground, allowing Garchomp to charge forward to use Dragon Claw on the door. As Garchomp was about to slash at the door, though, a Pin Missile erupted from behind a series of bushes, forcing her back in order to avoid the attack. Just as she avoided the attack, though, Chandelure and Starmie managed to burn out the steel plate's motor and tore the plate off its hinges, causing it to fall to the ground. Leaf was not concerned about the café's entrance, though, as a Honedge, Doublade, and Aegislash emerged from the front door and slashed at Garchomp, forcing the Pokémon to jump back to avoid taking damage. Garchomp then steeled herself for battle against the Steel/Ghost-type Pokémon as they surged towards her, their attacks being restricted to close range. Despite the numerical advantage, she and Leaf felt that she could still beat them without too much difficulty. However, that battle would not come to be, for soon, another surprise would come.

A stream of flame erupted from off in the distance to Leaf's right and engulfed the three Steel/Ghost-type Pokémon, knocking them out with that one hit. That gave Leaf the opportunity to have Chandelure and Starmie use Flamethrower and Ice Beam, respectively, on the Chesnaught that had emerged from the bushes to try to fire off another Pin Missile on the Kongs, Captain Falcon, and even on the Kanto League Champion. The two attacks were more than sufficient to render the Grass/Fighting-type Pokémon unconscious.

Leaf looked to her right and saw Ash, along with Pikachu as well as his Charizard, who was grinning, eager for another battle, preferably against an opponent that would put up more of a fight than the three blade-like Pokémon he had just fried. She could only smile at the sight of Ash. She could see a concerned look on his face.

"You all okay?" he asked, noticing the Kongs and Captain Falcon forming up around her.

"We're fine," Leaf answered.

"What's goin' on?" came Ash's next question.

"We were attacked by a Malamar that has retreated inside that café," Captain Falcon answered, pointing towards the Lysandre Café.

Leaf's eyes soon flashed as Starmie and Chandelure relayed new information to her. "What?" she blurted. "There's a Celebi in there as well?"

"A Celebi?" Ash blurted.

Starmie then relayed more information, clarifying the information that it had previously given her. "It appears to be inside a special Poké Ball called a GS Ball," Leaf added.

"How do ya know that?" Donkey Kong asked.

"Starmie scanned the minds of the two thieves," Leaf answered. "Given their client's reaction, they figured that there was a Pokémon inside the ball. I've also heard legends that tell of a Celebi inside the GS Ball, but those are just legends and rumors."

"I've seen the GS Ball firsthand," Ash exclaimed. "Professor Ivy and others have tried to open it. No one has been able to do so and when I was given the ball, I gave it to Kurt, a Poké Ball maker in Johto. I had no idea that it may have contained Pokémon, much less Celebi. Let's see if the legends are true."

"And we've still gotta deal with that Malamar," Diddy added. "That thing wants our heads, and will want them even more since its two comrades are now dead."

Leaf and the others nodded in agreement. Ash's eyes went wide at the revelation that they had fought three Malamars and had killed two of them. The fact that they had used deadly force would normally have greatly disturbed him but when he had heard about the three Malamars, something clicked in his mind and he was not troubled by their use of deadly force against the Pokémon, almost as if he knew that using deadly force was the only way to prevent them from doing something much worse in the future. He thought back to that dream he had had on the plane and a feeling of fierce determination came over him, like this was a chance to avoid a terrible future and he was not about to blow it. The group then turned its attention towards the entrance to the café.

Donkey Kong proceeded to make his way towards the door and he cracked his knuckles before winding up, swinging his right arm around and around before wailing on the door with a massive punch. The punch propelled the door off its hinges and into the café, flattening the two Team Flare Grunts in the process. Leaf and the rest of the group surged through only to be met by Malva, four of the Team Flare Scientists: Aliana, Bryony, Celosia, and Mable, and two Admins. They glanced at each of the heroes and grinned, figuring that they held a numerical advantage, though not by much. Leaf and the others were just as confident in their ability to get past these annoyances.

"Go, Ash, we've got this," Leaf told him, casting a confident glance towards him.

Ash nodded made his way towards the door leading into Lysandre Labs. As he was doing so, Starmie telepathically relayed to Leaf that the elevator needed a combination code to get to the level where Lysandre had taken the GS Ball. "And once we get that code, we'll be able to get the GS Ball, Celebi, and deal with that Malamar as well," Leaf added.

That was all that was needed for Malva and the others to think of the code to get to Lysandre's hidden room. It then relayed the information to Leaf, who then called, "Ash, when you get to the elevator, enter the code: one zero six two!"

Malva and the other Team Flare members' faces went aghast as Leaf told Ash the code to get to the inner room of the lab. For his part, Ash rushed towards the door leading towards the hallway that led to the elevator. Malva, quickly interposed herself between Ash and the door, barring the way. She then tossed five Poké Balls into the air and called out, "Houndoom, Pyroar, Torkoal, Chandelure, Talonflame, come on out and stop that kid!"

The five Poké Balls opened and revealed the Pokémon, each of them landing on the floor right in front of Ash save for Talonflame, who remained aloft, and prepared to launch Flamethrowers at the boy to immolate him. That was when Leaf glanced at Starmie and nodded, indicating that it knew what to do. Starmie then rocketed in front of Ash and performed a variation of Hydro Pump that was more similar to Surf than the normal Hydro Pump as instead of forming a direct beam of water, it spread out like a cone, which proved to be most unfortunate for the tightly bunched Pokémon of Malva. The water crashed on top of them and forced them back to the wall, the attack nearly turning the café's entrance to an aquarium. The attack also washed Malva, the Scientists, and the Admins backwards as well, causing them to crash into the wall. Still, some of them were still active and able to battle, though they would be no match for Leaf or the others. Ash rushed past them and through the door while the Scientists and Admins deployed their own Pokémon. The Scientists immediately tossed their Poké Balls into the air, calling out their Pokémon, crying, "Everyone, come on out!"

Immediately, a Mightyena, a Druddigon, a Liepard, a Bisharp, a Manectric, a Drapion, a Houndoom, and a Weavile came out of their Poké Balls and landed right in front of Leaf. The Team Flare Admins then tossed out some Poké Balls of their own and cried, "Come out Mightyena, Houndoom, Liepard, and Manectric. It's time to rock their world!"

Leaf took one look at the opposing force and she confidently stepped forward, telling the others, "You guys go help Ash and keep watch on him. I've got this."

The others nodded and proceeded to make their way towards the elevator while Leaf let out the rest of her Pokémon, Jolteon, Tyranitar, and Venusaur emerging from their Poké Balls and landing on the floor in front of the girl. The Team Flare Scientists and Admins looked at Leaf's team and their eyes soon went wide with shock and horror, for it was then that they recognized just whom it was that they were really dealing with. "Oh no," Aliana muttered as the battle began, each of the Scientists and Admins knowing that they stood no chance against Leaf. They only hoped that they could slow her down enough that Lysandre and Xerosic could deal with the others deeper in the base.

Meanwhile, in the lowest level of Lysandre Labs, Lysandre over to the large machine that had lasers, welding and cutting torches jutting from it. Sitting on the table next to the machine was the backpack device that had one arm capable of extending from the pack. Standing by his side were Xerosic and two Team Flare Admins.

He was preparing to open the GS Ball when the surviving Malamar from the ill-fated attack on Leaf and her friends barged into the room, alerting Lysandre to what was happening in the café above them. It relayed that Argus and Millis Steel had been beaten by Leaf and her friends and that Leaf had dealt with Malva and was in the process of curbstomping the remaining scientists and Admins that had the misfortune of facing off against her. It also relayed the fact that there was a newcomer as well, a boy that Leaf seemed to know but who did not know Leaf. Once the Malamar was finished relaying everything to Lysandre, the Team Flare Boss looked down at the floor and stoked his beard thoughtfully. Eventually, he said, "Okay, I'll help you against this threat. But first, you must do something for me."

[What is it?] the Malamar asked, the translation software on the computer translating the Pokémon's question, the question being vocalized in a deep, seedy voice.

Lysandre then showed the Malamar the GS Ball. "When this ball opens, a Pokémon will come out. I need you to restrain it when it emerges."

The Malamar nodded and went over to join Lysandre. The first thing the Team Flare Boss did was place the GS Ball in a round slot in a tray placed in the center of a table, two antennae-like projectors pointing down on it.

"Is everything ready?" he asked, looking over at Xerosic.

"It is," Xerosic answered.

"Excellent, then let's begin."

With that, Lysandre went over and put on his backpack and proceeded to begin the process of opening the GS Ball. Turning several knobs on the machine, he watched as electricity began to arc around the projectors, eventually being channeled down towards the ends of the projectors. The projectors then fired the electricity onto the GS Ball. Once electricity was arcing across the GS Ball, Lysandre looked over to Malamar and called, "Malamar use Psychic to open the GS Ball. With the specialized electricity gathered from energy from the Mega Stones we have collected, we should be able to open that Poké Ball and reveal the Celebi inside."

The Malamar nodded and, without a sound, its eyes began to glow as it used Psychic on the GS Ball. A blue field of psychic energy appeared around the ball and soon, a crack of light appeared in the center of the ball, right where it would appear if the ball were opening. The crack soon became wider and it was apparent that the Malamar's Psychic was having an effect as the ball was being pried open. Eventually, the ball was pried open, splitting completely in half, and a blue blob of energy emerged from the ball, eventually forming into Celebi, a green pixie-like Pokémon.

"Now!" Lysandre cried.

The Malamar then used Psychic to confine the movements of Celebi as the two Admins then went over to the machines and input a series of commands. Soon, the electrical projectors swiveled upwards and fired beams of electricity at Celebi. The beams of electricity did not strike the Pokémon, though, stopping mere inches away from the Pokémon, but they _did_ form a force field around the Pokémon. Lysandre then rushed towards the Pokémon and used his pack's Aipom Arm-like arm to reach out and try to touch Celebi in the middle of its head. However, before the arm could touch Celebi, a bolt of lightning erupted from the other side of the room and struck the arm, electricity arcing over it and then traveling down the arm towards the pack, itself, forcing Lysandre to discard the backpack. The Team Flare Boss, Xerosic, and the two Admins looked across the room and saw Ash assuming a fighter's stance with a single Poké Ball in his hand, Pikachu standing at his side, his cheeks crackling with electricity. Lysandre scowled.

"You do not know what you have done, boy," the Team Flare Boss seethed.

"Actually, I have a pretty good idea," Ash retorted, remembering how Grings Kodai had managed to gain the ability to see the future during a previous adventure, as well as the damage that resulted.

"You will live to regret interfering in my activities," Lysandre stated plainly as he looked over at Malamar and told it, "Malamar, deal with this boy."

"Charizard, I choose you!" Ash proclaimed as he tossed his Poké Ball into the air. The ball opened and the draconic Pokémon erupted from his Poké Ball, landing on the ground with a thud.

"Malamar, take control of the boy and his Pokémon!" Lysandre cried.

The Malamar grinned and the yellow spots on the Malamar's torso began to light up. Ash and Pikachu's faces immediately went blank and the Malamar grinned as the two Pokémon were now under its control. However, it was quick to notice that Charizard had resisted its Hypnosis and, as such, he had to be dealt with. Looking over at Ash, the Malamar commanded in its own language, [Use your Pikachu to kill Charizard. Don't let it stop us.]

Ash then relayed the command to Pikachu, "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on Charizard."

Charizard, however, had already surmised that the Malamar was using mind control on the other two, the dragon-like Pokémon having a strong mind and resisting the mind control efforts of the Malamar. To snap Ash and Pikachu out of their hypnotic state, Charizard stomped the ground several times, the ground shaking with each stomp. Both Pikachu and Ash immediately lost their balance and fell to the ground, as did Xerosic and the Team Flare Admins. Lysandre was able to maintain his footing, though, and the Malamar simply went to float into the air. Still, the damage was done and the Malamar's control over Ash was severed. Charizard then proceeded to use Flamethrower on the Malamar, the stream of flame striking Malamar squarely in the face. The attack sent the Malamar crashing into the wall, where it crashed, leaving an indent on the wall, and slid down, seemingly falling unconscious.

Lysandre, knowing that he had to act swiftly, took out his Poké Balls and cried, "Everyone, come on out!"

His Poké Balls opened and out came Pyroar, Gyarados, Mienshao, and Honchkrow. The moment they came out, though, Ash commanded, "Pikachu, Charizard, go! Use Thunderbolt on Gyarados and Honchkrow. Charizard, use Wing Attack on Mienshao then Submission on Pyroar!"

Both Pokémon obeyed and Pikachu launched a Thunderbolt at Gyarados, wanting to take down the large Water/Flying-type Pokémon first. The Thunderbolt crashed into Gyarados and the serpentine Pokémon gave a cry as electricity arced across its body. One Thunderbolt was sufficient to take down Gyarados, though Honchkrow was still able to fight back. All the while, Charizard charged towards Mienshao, using Wing Attack to take down the Fighting-type Pokémon before it could launch an attack of its own. Two Pokémon were down with two to go. However, Lysandre was not out of the fight yet."

"Honchkrow, use Retaliate on Pikachu!" the Team Flare Boss commanded. "Pyroar, use Hyper Voice!" While he hoped that the Pokémon would be able to defeat Ash's own Pokémon, he had a bad feeling that they would fail to do so. Still, his Pokémon gave it their best effort. Honchkrow proceeded to charge towards Pikachu, hoping to attack before it was taken down by Pikachu's Thunderbolt while Pyroar attempted to use Hyper Voice on Ash, Pikachu, and Charizard. Unfortunately, they were not fast enough.

Pikachu fired off a second Thunderbolt, this one taking down Honchkrow with a single hit, the crow-like Pokémon falling from the air and crashing into the ground, swirls appearing in its eyes, the Pokémon having fainted. As for Charizard, he rushed Pyroar and grabbed him, clasping his mouth shut before he could use Hyper Voice, and then spun the leonine Pokémon around before slamming him into the ground. Charizard then jumped into the air and came down on the Pokémon's back just for good measure. The Pyroar gave a cry of pain as Charizard landed on him before swirls appeared in his eyes, too, showing that he, too, was now unconscious, fortunate that his back was not broken.

Things only got worse for Lysandre as at the moment that his Pokémon team had been defeated effortlessly by Pikachu and Charizard, Captain Falcon and the Kongs surged through the entrance. Lysandre looked around desperately at his two Admins and Xerosic and told them, "Call out your Pokémon now! Help me out!"

The Admins and Xerosic looked at the ground, seeing Lysandre's unconscious Pokémon and realized that if they went to continue the fight, that their own teams, and probably they, themselves, would be joining them in defeat. The two Admins, however, had no qualms of fighting, though. They took out their Poké Balls and deployed their two Pokémon: a Braviary, a large bird Pokémon with red feathers on its back, dark blue feathers on its underside, and white feathers on its head; and a Manectric. "Braviary, Manectric, come on out!" they cried. "Use Thunderbolt on the ape and monkey and Brave Bird on the bounty hunter!"

Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong scoffed as they looked over at Ash and his Pokémon and told them, "We've got this."

Sure enough, they did, for Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong proceeded to take aim at the Manectric with their Coconut Shooter and Peanut Popgun, respectively, and pelted the Pokémon with the hardened fruit and nuts. While they were shooting, Manectric attempted to use Thunderbolt, only to be unable to concentrate due to the constant barrage of hardened fruit ammunition. As for the Braviary, it proceeded to tuck in its wings and dive to the ground, a red flame surrounding its body as it did so. It then charged full force towards Captain Falcon, the flames turning a bright blue. Captain Falcon focused on the Pokémon as he drew back his fist and yelled, "Falcon Punch!"

The moment he gave his cry, he thrust his fist forward, a flaming falcon appearing from it as it collided with Braviary's head. The two attacks collided and Braviary was frozen in place for a moment before Captain Falcon's Falcon Punch overpowered Braviary's Brave Bird and the force of the impact sent the bird flying back into the wall, the bird crashing into it and sliding, down, swirls appearing in its eyes, showing that it was unable to continue battling. It did not take long for Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong to finish off Manectric either, who was suffering from the constant barrage of hardened coconuts and peanuts. Eventually, though Donkey Kong decided to finish it the old fashioned way. He rushed Manectric and slammed his fists down on Manectric's head, knocking the Electric-type Pokémon unconscious, ending the fight.

The Admins looked at the scene in utter horror as their Pokémon were taken down by a sentient ape, monkey, and a bounty hunter. The heroes then turned to face Lysandre and saw that Celebi was still inside the force field. Ash then stepped forward along with Pikachu and Charizard.

"Release Celebi now," the boy demanded.

Lysandre took stock of the situation and grimaced. All of his Pokémon had fainted and the Pokémon his two Admins had were also now out of the fight. He noticed that the Malamar was not dead, but it was feigning death. Still, even if it were able to battle, there was no way that it would be able to defeat everyone here. Charizard had already shrugged off its hypnotic capabilities when it was fully healthy. In its nearly half dead state, there was no way it would be able to do much of anything. He looked over at Xerosic but the scientist was already backing away, not bothering to put his Pokémon into battle against the forces that were arrayed against them.

The final nail in their coffin soon came when Leaf came surging through the door to join Ash, the Kongs, and Captain Falcon. She scanned the scene before her and gave a satisfied smile. "Looks like I wasn't needed here after all." She then focused her gaze on Lysandre and the others. "It's over. Surrender now and release Celebi," she commanded.

Lysandre and the other humans made no moves, but the Malamar, who had been feigning defeat, quickly rose and used Psychic on Leaf, choking the girl, pinching her windpipe shut and lifting her off the ground. However, unlike with many others, who would have been grasping at their throat, struggling helplessly while gasping for air, she took offensive action against the Malamar and drew her freeze gun and fired on the Pokémon. The Kongs, Captain Falcon, Pikachu, and Charizard quickly joined her as they either shot at the Malamar with their own firearms, or used their attacks to destroy the Pokémon. The evil Malamar was unable to withstand the assault and quickly fell to the ground, the Pokémon having been frozen by Leaf's freeze gun, and then quickly shattered by a punch from Donkey Kong. Charizard then went over to the remains and used Flamethrower to reduce the shards of the evil Pokémon to ashes.

With the evil Malamar out of the way, all that was left was to free Celebi. Starmie and Chandelure surged into the room, both Pokémon scanning the room to make sure that everything was secure. Upon their appearance, Leaf directed, "Starmie, Chandelure, it's not quite done yet. Use Psychic to break that machine and help get Celebi out of here."

Both Pokémon nodded and proceeded to use Psychic on the machine. The machine shook for a few seconds before the arms on it shattered, the metal falling to the floor, clanking on it. Then, a series of explosions rocked the machine, flames and shrapnel spewing forth from the machine. The moment the machine was destroyed, the force field over Celebi vanished. The moment the force field vanished, a feeling of relief came over the heroes, but they knew that it was not quite over.

"Celebi, this would be a really good time for you to be someplace other than here," Leaf stated in no uncertain terms.

Celebi heartily agreed and promptly vanished from everyone's sight, a small clap sounding when the Pokémon vanished as air rushed in to fill the newly created vacuum. Now, it was over. The heroes had won. Leaf then stepped forward and proclaimed to Lysandre, "Now, it is over."

Lysandre looked around and tried to think of a plan to combat this catastrophe. He glanced into a distant monitor and saw the unconscious forms of the Scientists he had sent to the café, along with their Pokémon. She also saw the defeated forms of Malva and her Pokémon as well, as Malva was stirring. Still, he had one ace up his sleeve.

"Yes, it is," he said in a dark tone. "Breaking and entering, assault, assault with a deadly weapon, battery, numerous weapons violations, murder even," he said smugly as he listed off the crimes he was accusing the heroes of committing. "Things don't look all that good for you at the moment." He then went over to a computer screen and he turned it on, allowing the heroes to see what was about to unfold as numerous police officers armed with Manectrics, assault weapons, also equipped with visible body armor appeared. He did not notice Leaf's grin, though he would not have to as his own smug grin turned to a look of shock as the police began rounding up the fallen Pokémon, Scientists, and Malva, and arresting them, placing handcuffs on them. He also saw them apprehending Argus and Millis Steel, something that would be horrible since they would gladly throw him under the bus for any kind of plea deal.

"During the chase, I called the police to alert them to the situation regarding the Malamar Trio," Leaf explained. "They also said that there had been some strange occurrences happening near the Lysandre Café and were already investigating, but were stonewalled by politicians, likely those in your back pocket. But now, let's see, unlawful imprisonment, kidnapping, receiving stolen property; heck, attempted murder's also on the docket if that Malamar trio can be traced back to you. Now most of the charges, on their own, wouldn't stick, but then there's the issue of the apprehension of Argus and Millis Steel as well."

He looked up at the screen and noticed that the emblem was not that of the Kalos Police force, but that of the International Police. He saw Argus and Millis being led away, Millis shouting something that he was almost certain was her exposing any accomplices she and Argus may have had, as well as any clients that may have hired them trying to get a reduced sentence. He then shrugged. There was little to do. Since the Malamars were all dead now, he may have had an out, but there was no denying it. It was over. The battle was lost and his plans were set back indefinitely.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26:

Ash and Leaf emerged from the café to see the last of the International Police agents putting Argus and Millis in the backs of the police cars, Millis still whining about how they did not know Lysandre was a monster and that the GS Ball had a Pokémon inside of it. Captain Falcon and the Kongs soon followed and stood by the two pre-teens. Leaf could only grin. They had survived the assassination attempt by the Malamars and killed them in the process, something that both Ash and Leaf had a strange feeling would avert a horrible disaster in the future. In addition, they had rescued a Celebi and brought down an evil organization. While there was the chance that the leaders had deniability due to the arrival of the Malamars, they would likely try to claim that they were under some sort of mind control, they would have to be very careful for quite some time. There was no doubt that whatever Lysandre and his cohorts had been planning had suffered a significant setback. All in all, it was a good day.

"Well, if we're not needed here, we'll be going," Donkey Kong said to no one in particular. "We have to get back for game night with the others."

Diddy nodded in agreement.

"And I should be going, too," Captain Falcon added. "There's a crisis going on out there and I'll almost certainly have some job offers that will allow me to help in dealing with it." In addition, Captain Falcon wanted to learn more about the 'Chosen Hero' subject that he had heard during the warning about the impending Malamar attack.

Before Captain Falcon headed over to the Blue Falcon, Leaf went up to him, holding the freeze gun he had given her by the barrel, saying, "Here, this belongs to you."

"Thanks," he answered, accepting the weapon, placing it in a holster on his left hip.

The Kongs then took the road that led to Autumnal Avenue and departed the scene. Captain Falcon then headed over to the Blue Falcon and, after giving one final salute to Leaf and Ash, hopped into its cockpit and closed the canopy. After powering it on, it rose a meter or so off the ground before he turned it so it, too, was facing Autumnal Avenue. Then, after gunning the throttle, he rocketed off into the distance, turning left the moment he reached Autumnal Avenue. That left only Ash, Leaf, her Pokémon, Pikachu, and Charizard. She immediately turned to Ash and smiled, which he returned.

"It looks like it's just us now," she said.

Ash nodded. "Mm, hmm," he answered.

"You did really well during the battle," the girl told him. "You had only two Pokémon and yet you took down all of that Lysandre guy's team."

"You beat an Elite Four, if what I heard about that Malva woman is true," Ash replied, smiling, indicating that Leaf's feat was far greater than his own.

"I wouldn't put Malva in the same class as Lucian or Flint of the Sinnoh Elite Four, two Trainers that can give even Cynthia a fight," Leaf said, indicating that her battle against Malva had not been that much of a challenge.

Ash looked at her once more and suddenly, realization hit him like a ton of bricks. "Hey, you're Leaf, the World Pokémon League Champion!" Ash exclaimed. Leaf smiled as Ash realized a part of who she was. Still, he could not help but notice that there seemed to be a little bit of disappointment in her gaze as well. What was he missing? Still, the girl nodded.

"Yes, I am," she said in reply. "I must wonder what you are doing here, Ash Ketchum?" giving Ash a seemingly coy smile as she said his name, but he could not help but feel as if the smile was almost a clue of some sort. What it was a clue of, though he did not know. He also began to realize that he had not given her his name and had, indeed, wondered how she knew his name to begin with.

"How do you know who I am?" he asked the girl. Leaf smiled again.

"You're not unknown in the Pokémon world," Leaf answered. "You've participated in five official Leagues, coming in the Top Four in Sinnoh and beating Tobias's Darkrai and Latios from that conference, the only challenger to do so. You also won the Orange League and the Kanto Battle Frontier. You're a perennial contender and many are placing bets on when you will finally win a League, though I must say, you laid an egg in the Unova League."

"Yeah, I most certainly did, that," Ash agreed, scratching the back of his neck and giving a nervous chuckle, not wanting to talk much about the Unova League. He had been so out of character in Unova that had actually disturbed him once he had gotten home. At least he was not the only one to notice the issues in his Unova League performance. Still, looking over at Leaf again, he could not help but think that she knew more about him than she was letting on. She was not pleased that he did not seem to remember her at all but she did not let that get her down.

"Well, I'd better get going. I've got some time before the Battle Maison Tournament so I'll go explore the town. So long." She then departed the scene, heading towards the south.

"So long, Leaf," Ash called after the girl, who gave a wave as she vanished behind one of the buildings lining the street leading out of Magenta Plaza.

As Ash was about to turn to leave Magenta Plaza, himself, he found Alexa running towards the scene. When she saw him, she immediately rushed over to him and smiled before commenting, "Hi Ash, it looks like we're meeting again sooner than expected."

Ash gave a sheepish smile back to the reporter. The reporter than took out a pen and notepad and asked, "So, in your words, what happened here?"

Ash then recounted the events that he had partaken in, describing the intervention against the Steels and helping Leaf, the Kongs, and Captain Falcon fight Lysandre and his organization. He also told her that, according to Leaf, a trio of Malamars had attacked her and her friends while they were inside a building to have a meeting about a potential threat to the Earth. He told Alexa that Leaf believed that the Malamars may well have been that threat but that she should talk to Leaf about that.

After he had given his description to Alexa, who had taken copious notes on what he had been saying, asked, "So, is there anything else you need right now?"

"I should be fine, for now, but I'd like to talk to Leaf and get her take on the events that just happened," she answered. "Do you know where she went?"

"I think she took a shortcut towards a street to the south," Ash answered.

"That's likely Estival Avenue," Alexa commented with a chuckle. That was leading towards Lumiose Press, so she would not have been surprised if she had passed Leaf and not noticed. She then looked back at Ash and asked, "So, what are your plans?"

"I don't know yet," Ash answered, an answer that took Alexa by surprise.

"Well, most starting Trainers go to Professor Sycamore's lab before starting. While you're not a starter, you can have Professor Sycamore update your Pokédex there. I know he's working there. He's also taken an interest in a subject called Mega Evolution, something that you might be interested in. I highly suggest you go and talk to him."

"Sure," Ash answered exuberantly. "Where's his lab?"

"It's in the south of Lumiose City," Alexa answered. "I'll let him know you're coming."

She then took out a small datapad and pushed a button. A map immediately sprang to life on the pad. "This is a map of the whole city," she explained. "It has the locations of all of the landmarks and places of interest in Lumiose City." She then paused before finishing, "Well, I have to go find Leaf so I can get her account of the recent events."

Ash nodded and Alexa then departed from the scene. With that, Ash proceeded to make his own way towards Centrico Plaza. When he entered Centrico Plaza, he stopped for a moment and gazed at the Prism Tower. The tower was lit but since it was in the middle of the day, it did not have the same magnificence that it would at night. He gazed around at the people and Pokémon that were gathered around the tower. He then looked at the map and saw that it was labeled as not only the Prism Tower, but also as the Lumiose City Gym. With him no longer being sure about his plans for his Kalos trip, though, he put the Lumiose City Gym on the backburner and took out his map, activating it so he could see what looked interesting.

As he studied the map, he saw the lists of all of the shops, cafés, and other locations of interest. He saw that the Sycamore Pokémon lab was located in the southernmost tip of the city. He figured that he could take his time getting there, wanting to see other points of interest, as well as deciding on his own plans for his Kalos adventure, assuming he was going to stay in Kalos for a while. The wanderlust that had seemingly defined him for so long no longer seemed nearly as appealing as before. As he continued to gaze at the map, he noticed several stores on Vernal Avenue. Spending no more time in Centrico Plaza, he proceeded towards Vernal Avenue.

Walking down Vernal Avenue, Ash came across a number of stores, boutiques, and even some cafés. As he was walking along, he looked in the windows of the various stores to see if they had any merchandise that he would be interested in. Most of the stores held nothing of interest for him, but the Stone Emporium had a number of Evolution Stones as well as some new stones called Mega Stones. He did not know what Mega Stones were, and when he saw the price, a whopping one million Poké Dollars per stone, he was not willing to buy one to find out. Seeing nothing of further interest, he proceeded to make his way down the street until he came to South Boulevard.

When he came to the street, he looked across it and found the large building that his map indicated was Professor Sycamore's lab. There were two Poké Ball statues framing the entrance to the lab, along with a sign that read _Sycamore Pokémon Lab_. This was the right place. He also noticed a woman with dark blue hair that fell to the middle of her back. When the way was clear, he crossed the street and approached the lab. When he did so, the woman noticed him and waved towards him.

"Hello," she called. "My name is Sophie. I'm one of Professor Sycamore's assistants. Are you coming to see the professor?"

Ash nodded.

"And may I ask your name?"

"I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town. I want to meet the professor so I can start my Kalos journey."

"You're Ash Ketchum?" Sophie asked. Ash nodded. "Excellent," she exclaimed. "You came sooner than we thought you would. Go on in. The professor is expecting you."

"Thanks," Ash said as Sophie ushered him through the door.

When Ash entered the lab, he looked around the entry hallway and saw a large number of Pokémon of various species playing in the hallway. Among them was a Garchomp, which surprised him a bit, for he viewed Garchomps as being more battle oriented. Either way, Ash made his way past the Pokémon, who either ignored him or simply gave him friendly waves, not bothering him at all, allowing him to pass without incident.

The pre-teen entered into the interior chamber and saw a man with black hair, gray eyes, wearing a blue shirt with white lab coat, and black pants standing at a desk with three Poké Balls and an open case with three round stones inside. He looked like he was a lab worker and Ash figured that he was either affiliated with the Pokémon Professor of the region, or _was_ , indeed, the Pokémon Professor of the region. "Marvelous, you finally came!" he exclaimed. "I heard that a boy from Kanto was coming but when the battle outside of Lysandre Café was reported on the news, I had to come and make sure that everything was okay."

"Excuse me, are you Professor Sycamore?" Ash asked.

"Yes," Professor Sycamore answered. "And I take it you're Ash Ketchum."

Ash nodded.

"Marvelous. Alexa of the Lumiose Press told me that you'd be coming." He then rose from his desk and approached the boy, a warm smile on his face. "I heard that you're a Pokémon Trainer from Pallet Town in the Kanto Region of Japan. What are your current plans in Kalos?"

"Actually, I'm not sure," Ash answered sheepishly. "Originally, I wanted to come here to challenge the Kalos League, but ever since I helped Leaf free Celebi, I've suddenly wondered if I should challenge the League. After all, I have yet to even beat my own home League," he added quietly. In fact, the question of whether or not he had wanted to even challenge the Kalos League had appeared just after he had awakened from that nap on the plane when he had had that vivid dream. He tried to think back on the dream, but he could remember none of the specifics, only that it had been sad and that he had a chance to change things, both for himself and others.

"Well the Kanto League is no joke," Professor Sycamore offered. "Leaf came from Kanto and she's riding a very long winning streak. But either way, you should do what you feel is best for your journey."

"Thanks, Professor. I will," Ash answered.

"Well, if you are heading back to Kanto, I was wondering if you could do a little favor for me."

"Whadaya need?"

Professor Sycamore then went over to a small table with a briefcase on it. He grabbed the briefcase and went over to Ash, opening it. Inside were three large, black bracelets with small shiny stones in the slots and three sets of four stones and some necklaces that looked like they had slots large enough to fit the stones. Ash looked at them and then back at the professor. "What are these?" he asked.

"These are Mega Rings and Mega Stones," Professor Sycamore answered. "This is the key to Mega Evolution."

"Cool," Ash said, looking down at the stones eagerly. "What's Mega Evolution?"

"Mega Evolution is a special type of evolution that can occur with certain Pokémon when a Trainer has a special stone resonate with a Key Stone after they obtain a strong bond with each other."

"Can any Pokémon Mega Evolve?"

The Professor shook his head. "No," he answered. "Not every one can. So far, we've only discovered a few Pokémon capable of Mega Evolution, but we are discovering more daily."

"Cool, which Pokémon can Mega Evolve?"

"Well, we know that the final forms of the Kanto Starters: Charizard, Venusaur, and Blastoise, can Mega Evolve, as can several others, such as Lucario, Garchomp, and Tyranitar. There are also others that can Mega Evolve, but the list is relatively long."

"Hold on, Charizard, Venusaur, and Blastoise can Mega Evolve?" Ash asked, his eyes sparkling.

The professor nodded. "Yes, why?"

"Because I already have a Charizard, and he's with me right now."

Ask took out Charizard's Poké Ball and opened it. Out came the dragon-like Fire/Flying-type Pokémon, who gave a loud roar and sent forth a blast of fire from his mouth as he emerged.

"Marvelous!" the professor exclaimed. "This Charizard looks to be in the pinnacle of good health." Charizard grinned and looked over at Ash, grinning once more, both Ash and Pikachu issuing smiles in return. "And even better, it seems as if your bond is very strong, too," the professor exclaimed. He then put his finger to his chin and considered something. He then looked back at Ash and Charizard and said, "Yes, I think you would do great with a Mega Ring and Keystone. All you would have to do is choose which Mega Stone you want."

"Whadaya mean?" Ash asked, confused as to why he would need to choose between Mega Stones.

"Because Charizard is unique in that it can Mega Evolve into two different Pokémon, depending on which Mega Stone you choose: Charizardite X or Charizardite Y," Professor Sycamore answered.

"So Charizard can Mega Evolve into two different Pokémon?" Ash asked in wonder.

Sycamore nodded again. "It's the only known Pokémon to have that ability. Mega Charizard X is more of a physical attacker, with a great boost to its physical attack power when it Mega Evolves. Mega Charizard Y, on the other hand, is a special attacker, with a massive boost to its Special Attack abilities when it Mega Evolves. It also has access to the Drought ability, which can boost its already strong Fire-type attacks even further."

"So where are Charizard's Mega Stones?" Ash asked.

Sycamore then pointed to two Mega Stones, one a blue stone with a black fire symbol in its center, and another one that was bright orange with a red fire symbol in its center. "The blue stone is Charizardite X and the orange stone is Charizardite Y," he explained.

Ash then looked at each of the stones and then back at Charizard. "You choose, Charizard," he said, smiling towards the draconic Pokémon.

Charizard then came over and looked at each of the stones. "The blue one is the one that boosts physical attack abilities while the orange one boosts special attack abilities," Ash told him. It was a simplistic explanation, for he believed that the stones boosted more than one aspect of their power, but he figured that those were the main boosts granted by the stones. Charizard then picked up the Charizardite Y and gave it to Ash. "So Charizardite Y it is," Ash exclaimed. He then scratched his cheek. "Looks like I'll have to teach you some more Special moves when we get home."

Professor Sycamore then came over to Ash and handed him a necklace that he could put on Charizard that would hold the stone. He put the stone in the slot and then put the necklace on Charizard. Charizard then centered the necklace while Professor Sycamore gave Ash the Mega Ring, which he put on his left wrist. Once the ring snapped in place, he went over towards Charizard and saw that as he approached, the Key Stone began to glow, as did Charizard's Mega Stone.

"Marvelous," Professor Sycamore exclaimed. "You're already in sync." Truth be told, the professor was surprised that the two seemed to be in such close harmony, especially since Ash was also close friends with his Pikachu, who looked on in excitement. "Okay then, let's try this out!"

Ash then touched the Key Stone, which continued to glow, and cried, "It's time, Charizard. Mega Evolve!"

The moment he gave the command, Charizard's Charizardite Y began to glow and soon, the glow expanded to encompass Charizard as well and encased him in what looked to be a gray stone. After a second, Charizard emerged from the stone, his form having changed, though the physical change was not nearly as pronounced as a normal evolution, or even some other Mega Evolutions. Mega Charizard Y had a sleeker look than his normal form, retaining his normal coloration. He now had three pointed horns on his head, the middle one being the longest, small wings on his wrists, along with the wings on his back now becoming larger and having ragged edges. His neck was now shorter and he had smaller hands, but his legs and torso were longer.

As soon as Charizard had finished his Mega Evolution, a bright ray of sun shown through the windows from outside, bathing the room in light. This was Mega Charizard Y's Drought ability. Professor Sycamore could only look on in wonder and joy. This was what he had wanted to see ever since he, himself, had learned of Mega Evolution. After Charizard had Mega Evolved, Ash looked over at him and gave an approving smile at his formidable friend.

"So Charizard, how do ya feel?"

Charizard gave a thumbs up and roared in approval. He then playfully used Flamethrower on Ash's face, prompting Ash to give a cry as the flames engulfed his face. When the flames cut off, his face was covered in soot and black marks. Still, the soot was shaken off when Ash shook his face as he began to laugh along with Charizard.

While Ash and Charizard were laughing and testing out their new power a chime sounded from Professor Sycamore's computer. He went over to the computer and turned it on, Cosette's face appearing on the screen. "Is everything okay Cosette? I'm in the middle of something that will help with our research into Mega Evolution."

"Yes," Cosette answered, "it's just that there's this girl here who really wants to see you and I don't think she'll take 'no' for an answer. And I also don't want to find out what happens if she does get 'no' for an answer."

"Who is it?"

"It's Leaf, sir," the assistant answered. "And she has a Venusaur out as well."

"Excellent!" Sycamore exclaimed. "Send her up." He then looked over at Ash and Charizard and called, "Hey Ash, you and Charizard are about to have some company."

"Who?"

"You'll see," Professor Sycamore answered with a knowing smile.

After a minute or so, the door opened and in came Leaf, followed closely by one of her best Pokémon friends, Venusaur. Ash's eyes went wide in surprise as he saw the girl enter. Leaf beamed as she caught sight of the boy. "Leaf, what are you doing here?"

"I was coming to get my Pokédex upgraded," she answered. She then saw Charizard, or what she thought looked like Charizard, but she could tell that he looked different. "What's that?" she asked.

"That is Mega Charizard Y," Professor Sycamore answered for Ash. Charizard stepped forward and gave a friendly roar. "This is a Mega Evolution of Charizard."

"You said Mega Charizard Y," Leaf noted. "Does that mean that there is a Mega Charizard X as well?"

"Yes," the professor answered, nodding. "A friend of mine has a Mega Charizard X. He's already heard about what happened at the Lysandre Café and is coming back immediately, wanting to make sure that everything is okay. Lysandre had given him the Charizardite X and the Mega Ring, but my friend is beginning to become suspicious of Lysandre given the events at the café.

"What other Pokémon can Mega Evolve?" Leaf asked.

"Well, your Venusaur is one of them," Sycamore answered. "Also, Garchomp can Mega Evolve too, as can Tyranitar."

"Cool, both of those Pokémon are on my team."

"Well, I only have a Venusaurite on me right now; Venusaurite, Charizardite, and Blastoisinite" the professor lamented. "I usually keep some Mega Rings as well. But you said you wanted to get your Pokédex upgraded, did you not?"

Leaf nodded. "Yes, but I'd also like to have a Mega Ring, if that's okay with you."

"Actually, I'm glad you said that," the professor answered. "Sure, I'll give you one. After all, you and your friends, Ash here, included, saved a Celebi and exposed a dark secret about Lysandre Labs."

"I'm wondering if some of that was due to the Malamar Trio I faced," Leaf wondered.

"Well, either way, you saved an innocent Pokémon and stopped a great evil in the process."

Professor Sycamore then went over to get a Mega Ring and a Venusaurite and handed them to Leaf. She then handed him her Pokédex. Ash then took out his Pokédex and asked, "Hey Professor, is it okay if I get my own Pokédex upgraded, too?"

"Sure, no problem," Sycamore answered as he accepted the boy's Pokédex.

While he went to upgrade the pre-teens' Pokédexes, Leaf went over and got a necklace to fit around Venusaur's neck. She then fit the Venusaurite into the slot in the center of the necklace and put the Mega Ring on her left wrist. The moment she did so, both the Key Stone and the Venusaurite began to glow, just as Ash's own Key Stone and Charizardite Y had. Leaf grinned and then touched her Key Stone, calling out in a loud voice, "Venusaur, it's time. Mega Evolve!"

The moment she touched her Key Stone, the Venusaurite on Venusaur's necklace resonated with the Key Stone and the Venusaurite began to glow more brightly. Soon, the glow expanded to encompass Venusaur and he was immediately encased in what looked to be a gray stone. After a few seconds, Venusaur emerged from the stone, looking different from before, though his physical changes were not nearly as apparent as the changes to his abilities. A pink flower was now on Venusaur's forehead, and had Leaf been standing behind Venusaur, she would have seen one on his rear, too. There were also darker patches of green below the new bloom on the forehead. In addition, there were leaves below the large flower's leaves on Venusaur's back and there were support vines connected to the main flower, too. Other than that, though, there were few changes, noticeably fewer than with Mega Charizard Y.

As soon as Venusaur had Mega Evolved, Leaf looked over at him and checked on him to make sure that everything was okay. Seeing nothing wrong on the outside, she asked, "So Venusaur, how do you feel?"

"Venusaur!" Venusaur cried in excitement, which Leaf took to mean, _I feel great_.

Mega Charizard Y then came over to Leaf and Mega Venusaur and gave them a once over before giving a growl of excitement. Venusaur looked over at Charizard and gave a rumble of excitement as well. Both Pokémon were eager to test out their new power, something that did not escape the notice of their Trainers as they both stared at each other, sizing the other up as they did so.

After a minute or so, Professor Sycamore finished upgrading the Pokédexes and came over to the two pre-teens, seeing that they and their Pokémon friends were eager to test the powers of these new Mega Evolutions. "Well, I've finished upgrading these Pokédexes," he commented, handing back each device to the corresponding pre-teen.

Ash and Leaf accepted the devices and then tested them out by scanning their Mega Evolved Pokémon. The scans soon came back with both Ash and Leaf's Pokédex having a relatively deep masculine voice. As one, they both went through their Pokédexes, checking out entries on various Pokémon, as well as Pokémon on their teams as well as back at Professor Oak's lab or off doing other things but were still able to be called up to help the team if needed. Once they were finished, they put their Pokédexes away and both of their Pokémon reverted back to their normal forms, the sunlight dying down as they did so. The Pokémon then rejoined their Trainers.

As they were about to leave, though, Professor Sycamore called out to them, saying, "Hey, before you go, I was wondering if you'd have a Mega Evolution battle. I'm studying Mega Evolution and would like to be able to see a battle up close and personal, if it's alright with you," he added.

As one, Ash and Leaf turned towards each other and gave eager grins before nodding. "We accept," they both answered in unison. "State the rules," Leaf added.

"The battle will be between Mega Charizard Y and Mega Venusaur. The battle will end either when one opponent is unable to battle, or a Pokémon reverts back to their normal form."

Ash and Leaf both smiled and then looked over at their Pokémon. Pikachu, meanwhile, hopped off of Ash's shoulder and went to sit on one of the tables not too far away.

"Charizard!" Ash called.

"Venusaur," Leaf echoed.

"It's time. Mega Evolve!" they both cried in unison.

Both Pokémon then Mega Evolved and glared at each other upon completing their Mega Evolutions. As they did so, the sunlight shining through the window became intense. "I'll give you the first move, Ash," Leaf stated.

"Okay, then," Ash began with a grin. "Charizard, let's start this off with a Flamethrower!" he cried, pointing at Venusaur.

"Venusaur, dodge and use Sludge Bomb!" Leaf countered, something that caused Venusaur to look at her quizzically. He had not been used to taking verbal orders in quite some time, having been the first Pokémon Leaf trained to fight without being issued commands, merely following a battle plan while allowing Leaf to scan the battlefield and any changes that may have been occurring and being able to relay the information to him quickly and efficiently. He soon saw her nod her head slightly and mouth, _Do it, Venusaur. I don't want to reveal that part of our battling style to Ash in an exhibition match_.

Venusaur nodded, but as he had been questioning Leaf's new command style, Charizard's Flamethrower scored a direct hit on him, causing him to grunt in pain while the force of the attack knocked him back a few steps. Even with his Thick Fat ability halving the amount of damage he would have normally sustained, he still felt the Flamethrower. He would not want to take many more hits like that.

Ash looked over at Venusaur and was shocked that the Grass/Poison-type Pokémon had not taken more damage from the super effective Flamethrower. He grimaced as he realized that this was going to be even more difficult than he imagined. He looked over at Venusaur and saw him launch his Sludge Bomb at Charizard.

"Charizard, dodge and use Flamethrower one more time!" Ash cried.

Charizard did as Ash bade and ascended into the air, allowing Flamethrower to sail underneath him. He then unleashed another Flamethrower on Venusaur. "Venusaur, use Sludge Bomb to intercept the Flamethrower!" Leaf cried.

Venusaur did as directed and fired off another Sludge Bomb, this time, merely having it target the Flamethrower. Much as Leaf and Venusaur had expected, the moment it collided with the Flamethrower, there was a massive explosion in the air, smoke issuing forth from the epicenter of the explosion. The blast cloud covered both Pokémon, obscuring them from the other's vision.

"Charizard, use Wing Attack!" Ash cried. "Use your senses to locate Venusaur and strike!"

Charizard complied, using his sense of hearing and even smell to locate Venusaur and perform a Wing Attack on the Grass/Poison-type Pokémon. His wings glowed as he charged Venusaur, who was lacking in agility.

"Venusaur, dodge and attack into the cloud!" Leaf cried, not specifying an attack to launch into the cloud.

Venusaur complied by backing off, doing his best to avoid Charizard. Still, he was not fast enough to avoid the Fire/Flying-type Pokémon and took a direct hit. "Now Charizard, finish it with Flamethrower!"

Charizard immediately launched a Flamethrower, unleashing a stream of flame on Venusaur, scoring a direct hit. Venusaur grunted in pain as he took the hit, but he also knew that this provided a significant opportunity for him and took advantage of it by unleashing a blue cloud of Sleep Powder from his flower. With Charizard being right next to him, there was no way for the draconic Pokémon to avoid the Sleep Powder cloud, despite incinerating much of it with his Flamethrower. Some of the Sleep Powder spores managed to make contact with Charizard's skin and the large Fire/Flying-type Pokémon began to feel drowsy.

"Charizard, no!" Ash cried. "Use Flamethrower before you fall asleep!" Ash directed, pointing towards Venusaur.

Charizard attempted to focus and fire another Flamethrower on Venusaur, but all that came out was a single flare and a puff of smoke. The draconic Pokémon then gave a great yawn and a loud sigh before closing his eyes and curling up next to Venusaur. Leaf then grinned. "Go to town, Venusaur," she directed with sadistic pleasure. "Use Leech Seed and then bombard him with Sludge Bomb."

Venusaur eagerly obeyed his friend's command as a seed formed on top of his plant. He then launched it into the air, where it landed on Charizard's back. Immediately upon striking the Pokémon, vines erupted from the seed and curled around the sleeping Pokémon, entangling him, with one of the vines latching onto the ground so it could siphon energy from Charizard to Venusaur. The vines then began to siphon energy from Charizard to Venusaur, Venusaur giving a satisfied rumble as he felt the energy slowly recovering. This was when he went on the attack.

At nearly point-blank range, Venusaur launched a Sludge Bomb on Charizard, which struck him squarely on the back, close to the Leech Seed. The bomb exploded in brown cloud that engulfed Charizard. Venusaur then launched another Sludge Bomb on the draconic Pokémon, inflicting more damage on Mega Charizard Y, all while Leech Seed was draining even more health from Charizard.

"Charizard, wake up!" Ash cried. Still, the Fire/Flying-type Pokémon did not awaken, which only prompted Venusaur to fire off another Sludge Bomb Charizard's way, scoring another direct hit on the sleeping Pokémon.

This time, though, the hit managed to jostle Charizard awake. He slowly opened his eyes as Venusaur was readying another Sludge Bomb. "He's awake, watch out!" Leaf cried as she saw Charizard's eyes open.

Venusaur immediately backed away and fired off his next Sludge Bomb on Charizard. Charizard retaliated by doing something that caught Venusaur, Leaf, _and_ Ash, off guard. He powered up a Wing Attack and charged straight through the Sludge Bomb and flew right at Venusaur. Charizard scored a direct hit on Venusaur, barreling into the quadrupedal Pokémon and pushing it backwards towards the exit. The two burst through the door and into the lab's main hallway. The moment they appeared in the main hallway, all of Professor Sycamore's assistants as well as the visitors to the lab began to scatter, seeing the two battling Mega Evolved Pokémon and not wanting to be caught in the crossfire.

After Charizard performed the Wing Attack on Venusaur, he followed up with a Flamethrower to Venusaur's face, scoring a direct hit on the Grass/Poison-type Pokémon. Venusaur retaliated with a Sludge Bomb to the head, both attacks scoring massive damage on their respective targets, forcing them away from each other. For a moment, Ash cringed as the two Pokémon burst through the door and continued the battle. However, when he saw that Charizard had more room to maneuver in the much larger hallway, he began to grin, realizing that this could quickly turn to Charizard's advantage.

"Charizard, take to the air and bombard Venusaur with Flamethrower from long range," Ash commanded.

"Venusaur, back off and use Sludge Bomb to counter Charizard's Flamethrower. We can wait him out while the Leech Seed takes its toll and if we score some hits, so much the better," Leaf countered.

Charizard did as Ash commanded and he flew towards the ceiling and began to unleash a stream of Flamethrower towards Venusaur, who countered with Sludge Bomb, the bomb of sludge being able to hold back the Flamethrower and allow the slower and far less agile Venusaur to avoid the stream of flame, which crashed into the floor. Venusaur then followed up with a second Sludge Bomb, but Charizard was easily able to evade the attack.

"Venusaur, pelt Charizard with Energy Balls," Leaf cried. "Just keep attacking. Don't give him time to breathe or recover. They won't do much damage, but they'll keep him occupied while the Leech Seed finishes him off."

Venusaur nodded and promptly followed Leaf's command by firing a green Energy Ball right at Charizard. The Energy Ball traveled much faster than the Sludge Bomb and scored a direct hit on Charizard. Charizard's Fire/Flying-typing made it so that it inflicted only minimal damage to the draconic Pokémon, but Charizard still felt it. Venusaur continued to pelt Charizard with Energy Balls, doing his best to keep Charizard off balance.

"Charizard, dodge and use Flamethrower!" Ash cried.

Charizard did his best to obey Ash, but he was finding it difficult to deal with the faster, though not nearly as effective, attacks and he was having trouble focusing on performing a Flamethrower. He fired off a Flamethrower on Venusaur, only to cringe and grunt as the Leech Seed drained more of his health while replenishing Venusaur's. The Flamethrower still hit Venusaur, but he knew that he had to do something or else this battle would end in his defeat.

Meanwhile, little did the battling Pokémon, or their Trainers, know that a blue frog-like Pokémon with a scarf of white frubbles looked on, watching the battle from a distance just outside the lab, as were a Fletchling and a Hawlucha, who were standing a distance away from Froakie, along with a number of human bystanders. The Froakie then focused on the two Trainers, paying particular attention to Ash as he continued to try to come up with a strategy for defeating Leaf. He thought back to how he had seen Ash assist Leaf in her battle against the occupants inside of the Lysandre Café and how they had saved a Celebi and taken down a duo of thieves. He had heard of Leaf in passing, the girl having a reputation of being unbeatable. Now, though, Leaf looked to have met her equal in Ash and Froakie grinned. This was a Trainer he could work with. While the girl was obviously also a skilled Trainer too, he felt as if he would synchronize better with the boy, especially since that mysterious figure had told him that a boy matching Ash's description was just the Trainer he was looking for, the Froakie having rejected all of his previous Trainers. He then continued to watch the battle from the shadows, in keeping with his ninja-like personality. Little did he, or anyone else, know, though, that the Fletchling and Hawlucha had also been contacted by the mysterious figure about Ash and were appraising his ability as a Trainer, too. And they both liked what they saw.

Back to the battle, Charizard and Venusaur exchanged another series of attacks, both their Flamethrower and Sludge Bomb hitting their respective opponents. Still, Leech Seed continued to drain Charizard of his health, giving it to Venusaur in the process, and while Charizard was inflicting more damage than Leech Seed was helping Venusaur recover, the damage inflicted on Charizard by both the Sludge Bombs and Leech Seed was adding up. He had to do something fast, or Venusaur would simply outlast him.

It was then that the worst thing that could have happened for Charizard did. The sun began to go down and return to its normal intensity. As the sun went down, Charizard began to breathe heavily, the battle taking its toll on him. Both Charizard and Ash could see Leaf's grin. "It's almost over Venusaur," Leaf told her starter. "Keep up your attacks and wear Charizard out."

"Charizard, we've gotta find some way to take down Venusaur before that Leech Seed drains you dry," Ash called in counterpoint.

Charizard gave a grumble that almost certainly translated into, _No duh_. However, that was when an idea came to his mind as he fired off another Flamethrower on Venusaur, managing to score a direct hit on the Pokémon, albeit not inflicting much damage due to Venusaur's Thick Fat and the fact that the sun was now down, though the attack _did_ power through Venusaur's Energy Balls, giving Charizard a chance to catch his breath. As he fired off that Flamethrower, though, a feeling welled up inside of him. He had felt it at the Charicific Valley shortly before Ash had called him back to rejoin his team in Unova but had not really followed up on it. He felt as if he could focus his Flamethrower into a more powerful burst-like attack that would inflict more damage to his opponent. He remembered Liza calling it Fire Blast. He was certain that Fire Blast could overcome Venusaur's Energy Balls, especially since his Flamethrower could do the same when he was able to focus. Charizard then grinned, remembering the events of Ash's battle against Gary Oak in the Johto League and an idea came to mind on how he could get rid of the Leech Seed as well.

Ignoring the Energy Balls and the draining effects of the Leech Seed, Charizard began to focus his flames before launching them, building them up in his mouth. He then lowered himself a bit and launched a blast of fire into the air that was in the shape of a human stick figure. Both Ash and Leaf's eyes went wide with shock as Charizard demonstrated that he had just learned Fire Blast.

"But how?" Leaf asked. "Normally, Charizard can only learn that attack via TM."

She then shrugged. She should have expected as much coming from one of Ash's Pokémon especially since he had been training in the Charicific Valley. Charizard then flew straight into his own Fire Blast, taking minimal damage since he, too, was a Fire-type Pokémon. At first, both Ash and Leaf thought that he was going to try to ram Venusaur as part of a makeshift Flare Blitz, but then Leaf began to realize his plans as she saw the vines entangling the draconic Pokémon begin to burn.

"Venusaur, finish him off now!" the girl cried. "He's going to burn the vines and destroy the Leech Seed!" She also grimaced because her previous supposition could still also be correct here, too. In fact, that was exactly what Charizard was going to do as he focused his gaze on Venusaur and spread his wings, breaking the vines from the Leech Seed, the burning seed falling from his body and hitting the ground, where it burned until it was reduced to ashes. Charizard then zeroed in on Venusaur and flew straight towards him.

"Alright Charizard, do it and finish this fight with Fire Blast using the flame armor to block Leaf's Energy Balls!" Ash cried.

Charizard charged towards Venusaur with his new flaming armor and prepared to power a Fire Blast. Venusaur countered by firing off a barrage of Energy Balls on Charizard but they merely either glanced off his flaming armor or exploded against the flames surrounding Charizard's body without inflicting any damage on Charizard.

"Venusaur, forget the Energy Balls, use Sludge Bomb as he gets close," Leaf commanded.

Venusaur grinned and fired off a Sludge Bomb on Charizard, forcing Charizard to go evasive to avoid, the draconic Pokémon not wanting to test his flaming aura's strength against the Sludge Bomb. As Charizard got closer, though, Venusaur fired off another Sludge Bomb, this one scoring a direct hit on Charizard, causing him to recoil and grunt in pain. However, it did not arrest his momentum and he continued straight towards Venusaur, eventually colliding with the Pokémon, the impact forcing Venusaur back several feet.

The moment Charizard made contact with Venusaur, he immediately went to unleash a Fire Blast on the Grass/Poison-type Pokémon. The moment he did so, Venusaur fired off a Sludge Bomb on Charizard and there was a massive explosion. The blast cloud engulfed both Pokémon, obscuring them from view. Both Trainers stared into the cloud of smoke as they tried to ascertain the condition of their Pokémon friends. Eventually, the blast cloud cleared and both Charizard and Venusaur could be seen breathing heavily in their normal forms.

Charizard was barely able to stand and fell to one knee, steadying himself and able to keep from falling to the ground and fainting, but it was clear that he would not be able to continue the battle. The same could not be said of Venusaur, who while still breathing heavily and having returned to his normal form, was still able to fight. He opened his mouth and prepared to knock Charizard out with an Energy Ball, Leaf watching and grinning as Venusaur was about to score the victory. However, the match would be stopped before Venusaur could finish off Charizard.

"This battle is over! The match is a draw!" the two Pokémon and Trainers heard Professor Sycamore call from behind before Venusaur could finish off Charizard. The two Pokémon looked behind them and saw Professor Sycamore approaching. They then relaxed, with Charizard falling to the ground, fainting, while Venusaur fell to the ground, breathing heavily but not fainting.

Both Ash and Leaf looked at their Pokémon and smiled. "You were awesome out there Charizard, take a good rest," Ash told Charizard.

"You did great, Venusaur," Leaf told her starter. "Take a good, long rest. I'll get you checked out at the Pokémon Center in no time."

The two pre-teens then recalled their fatigued Pokémon into their Poké Balls looked over at Professor Sycamore, who was beaming. "I must say, that was one of the best individual battles I've ever seen as a Pokémon Professor," he exclaimed. "It's clear that you both are deserving of those Mega Rings."

"Thank you, sir," the two pre-teens answered. "Is there anything else you need from us?" Leaf asked.

"I should be fine, thank you," Professor Sycamore answered. "You've given me more than I could have ever hoped for."

The two pre-teens then gave a final wave before heading towards the exit, the bystanders watching as the two passed. As they were walking, Leaf looked over at Ash and gave a satisfied smile. "Your Charizard is amazing, Ash. No one Pokémon has ever taken Venusaur to the brink like that before. You were handling Mega Evolution like a pro, even if Charizard's moveset was not designed around his Mega Evolution. I wonder if Venusaur would have won if you went with Mega Charizard X."

"Thanks," Ash answered. "And Charizard chose the Mega Stone, not me. Your Venusaur is strong, too. And you were handling Mega Evolution even better since Venusaur got the better part of the exchange."

"Don't sell yourself short, Ash," Leaf admonished. "You have amazing potential. Teach Charizard some special attack moves and you'll have a force that could sweep entire teams."

"Thanks," Ash answered hesitantly.

"I mean it, Ash," Leaf insisted. "You're a lot better than your League record indicates. You can be a Champion every bit as great as I am, maybe greater."

Ash smiled and thanked her again, not really knowing how to take the compliments. The two of them then proceeded to make their way outside of the lab, Leaf's other Pokémon forming up around her and following her outside, with Pikachu jumping up onto Ash's shoulder.

Once they were outside, Leaf waved to Ash and hurried towards the Pokémon Center, wanting to have her Venusaur get checked up on as quickly as possible. As she began to run, Ash felt the overwhelming urge to chase after her and race her to the Pokémon Center. However, before he could start chasing after her, a blue ball of water flew out of nowhere and landed a few feet in front of him. Ash turned to his right and saw a blue frog-like Pokémon standing in front of him, flanked by a small gray bird Pokémon with an orange head and a bipedal bird-like Pokémon who was standing in a pose reminiscent of a luchador. The trio approached Ash and began to speak in their own language, Froakie taking the lead.

Pikachu stared at them quizzically for a second before they made their pitch to Ash, which Pikachu easily understood since he, himself, was also a Pokémon. He then looked back up at Ash and said, "Pikapi, pikachu pi-ka."

Ash looked at Pikachu and saw that his friend's expression indicated that the Pokémon standing before them wanted to be friends. He then looked over at them and asked, "Do ya wanna be friends?"

Each Pokémon nodded and answered affirmatively.

"Do you wanna join my team?" was Ash's next question.

The trio nodded and answered affirmatively again. This time, though, Froakie stepped forward and said, "Froa-kie froa-kie froakie," which Ash translated as _Yes, but let's do this right_. He instantly knew that Froakie and the others, which upon taking out his Pokédex identified as a Fletchling and Hawlucha, wanted to battle him before joining.

"Alright then, let's do this!" Ash exclaimed. He then turned his cap around and looked down at Pikachu and said, "Are ya ready buddy?"

"Pika!" Pikachu answered in the affirmative.

Ash then grinned. "Then let's do it!"

The battle then started with Froakie firing off a Water Pulse at Pikachu, with Fletchling using Razor Wind, firing a series of crescent-shaped energy blasts at Pikachu while Hawlucha attempted to use a High Jump Kick on the electric rodent. Ash and Pikachu saw the attacks coming and Ash cried, "Pikachu, dodge and use Thunderbolt on all three Pokémon."

Pikachu nodded and deftly avoided the Water Pulse and Razor Wind, the attacks colliding with the ground and dispersing. However, he was unable to avoid Hawlucha's High Jump Kick, which scored a direct hit on his chest, forcing him back a few steps. Still, it was far from sufficient to take him down. Pikachu then fired off a series of three Thunderbolts on each Pokémon. The three Pokémon, each of them being vulnerable to Electric-type attacks, suffered significant damage from the attacks and were paralyzed as the electricity arced across their bodies.

Once they were stricken, Ash took out his Poké Balls and tossed them at each Pokémon, one after the other. Each Poké Ball hit their Pokémon and opened, drawing the Pokémon into the Poké Ball. The ball then closed and began to wobble on the ground before the light in the center flashed and sparkles erupted from it as the ball locked and a beep was heard, indicating that the Pokémon were captured.

"Alright! I just caught a Froakie, Fletchling, and Hawlucha!" Ash exclaimed, holding out one of the Poké Balls.

"Pi-Pikachu!" Pikachu echoed with just as much excitement as Ash had, flashing two fingers for the victory sign.

Ash then checked his Pokédex and found that it could now scan the health of his captured Pokémon. He saw that each of his new friends had pretty low health. Despite holding back, Pikachu's Thunderbolt had done a lot of damage to them. He also saw Charizard's condition and decided not to waste any more time outside, quickly heading towards the Pokémon Center.

When he arrived, he saw Leaf already exiting the center, along with all six of her Pokémon friends. She looked over at him and gave him a slight wave and a wink of greeting before going on her way. Ash looked back at her as she smiled at him, Ash returning her smile. He could not help but think that he knew her from somewhere before. He just could not place his finger on it. He then shrugged, not thinking too much on it as he went into the Pokémon Center.

The inside of the Pokémon Center was sparsely populated. Only a few people were sitting at the tables or benches and the videophone was unoccupied. He then went up to the main desk, where Nurse Joy was standing, alongside a Wigglytuff, something that surprised Ash since he remembered the main Pokémon for Nurse Joys in Japan and Unova being Chansey and Audino, respectively. He then scanned Wigglytuff and found that it was now a Normal/Fairy-type Pokémon. When checking the Fairy-typing, he found that it was immune to Dragon-type Pokémon. Remembering his own experiences with some Dragon-types and how they could be difficult to control, he could see why Nurse Joy would want a Wigglytuff as an assistant.

He then went to the main desk, Pikachu jumping onto the desk as he arrived. "Hello, is there anything I can help you with?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Yeah," Ash answered, nodding. "One of Pokémon was just in a tough battle, and I just captured three others. I was hoping that you would give them a checkup."

"Sure," Nurse Joy answered, nodding. Wigglytuff then brought a tray with six slots for Poké Balls. "Just place your Poké Balls in this tray and we'll go back and check on them."

"Thanks," Ash answered, placing his four Poké Balls in the tray, with Pikachu sitting on top of the tray. Once they were ready, Nurse Joy and the Wigglytuff took Ash's team to the back to give them their checkup. As they went back, Ash went over to a table to sit and wait for the checkup to be finished. As he sat down, his mind then began to drift.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27:

Back in the Pokémon Center, Ash waited for his Pokémon to be finished their checkup. While he waited, he thought back to his trip to Kalos, his battle against Lysandre alongside Leaf and her friends, as well as his later Mega Evolution battle against Leaf. When he had heard about Kalos from Alexa, he had been excited about the prospect of coming to the Kalos Region and discovering new Pokémon, befriending and capturing them and participating in the Kalos League. He soon took out his Pokédex and went through it to learn more about the Pokémon of Kalos. He went to study up on the new Fairy-type Pokémon. According to the Pokédex, Fairy-types were immune to Dragon-type attacks and Fairy-type attacks were also super effective against Dragon-type Pokémon. He then checked to see how many Fairy-type Pokémon there were and what Pokémon were Fairy-type. He was not surprised to see that Eevee could evolve into the Fairy-type Sylveon, but he was surprised when he saw that Gardevoir also had the Fairy-typing. Ash gave a chuckle as he thought back to Iris, his traveling companion in the Unova Region, who was now training in the Johto Region of Japan. She had a phobia of Ice-type Pokémon because of the Ice-type's strength over Dragon-types. He could only imagine how terrified she would initially be of Fairy-type Pokémon.

He then sighed as he continued to think about what his plans in the Kalos Region would be. A part of him felt as if it would be foolish to leave the region since he had just gotten here. Still, there was something holding him back. That was when he heard the chime come from the main desk, indicating that his Pokémon were fully healed. Looking back, he saw Nurse Joy and Wigglytuff exit the back room, the nurse carrying the tray of Ash's Poké Balls, with Pikachu sitting on top of it. He quickly headed over to the desk.

"Your Pokémon are all fully rested and healthy," she said, setting the tray down on the desk as Ash arrived at the desk.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu cried as he jumped onto Ash's shoulder. Ash then took each of his Poké Balls and clipped them to his belt.

"If anything else happens to your Pokémon, don't hesitate to come back to see us," Nurse Joy added.

Ash nodded, saying, "Thanks. I will." With that, he turned around and exited the Pokémon Center.

When he got outside, he turned to his right and followed South Boulevard all the way to the north, just walking. The walk was not all that exciting, for there was nothing save for some office buildings and some cafés on the path. Everything exciting must have either been on the other side of town, or in the center of the city. Still, there was a Galette Stand in the northwest part of the city that had freshly baked galettes. When he caught sight of the stand, his stomach began to grumble, which caused him to give a bashful smile.

"With everything that's happened recently, I'd forgotten that I haven't had breakfast yet," Ash noted, giving an embarrassed smile.

"Pi-ka," Pikachu answered, suppressing a chuckle of his own.

Ash then went up to the stand and bought six galletes in all: one for himself as well as one for each of his Pokémon, as well as six bottles of water. Letting his Pokémon out of their Poké Balls, he then gave each of them a Lumiose Galette and a bottle of water. Once they were finished, they each returned to their Poké Balls of their own accord, with Pikachu jumping back up on Ash's shoulder, with Ash continuing on his walk.

As he continued his walk, a smile crossed his face. That galette was just what he needed. While walking, he began to consider his plans for the future once more. While he could not deny his initial excitement about coming to Kalos, now, he could not help but feel himself wondering if he really wanted to compete in the League here. He had felt a sense of accomplishment when he had helped Leaf deal with Lysandre, his cronies, and those thieves, but he had a feeling that she could have done that without his help. Also, he could not help but wonder why when he was around her that he felt as if he should not really be in Kalos. He thought back to his previous adventures in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova and this feeling had never come over him before. More importantly, he had not begun to feel that way since waking up from the dream on the flight to Kalos. He soon found an outdoor café with several empty tables and benches and he decided to sit on one the benches and think some more, Pikachu hopping off his shoulder and sitting beside him.

His mind soon drifted back towards that dream, which for a moment, became much clearer. It was clear that the dream, if that's all it was, was not a pleasant one at the end. He felt as if he failed and his failure had resulted in a great calamity. More than that, though, was the fact that he had lost his friends in the dream, possibly due to his own mistakes. He was not about to let something like that happen to anyone he cared for again. Still, that was no reason to not go on his journey in Kalos, for he could not shake the feeling that everything that had happened in that dream was undone not by him leaving, but by what he, Leaf, and the others had done to Lysandre in that café. He had a feeling that the threat was over, or least delayed, and that his role in dealing with that threat was done. So the question was why. Why did he feel different from before? Why did he miss home so much?

Pikachu was looking at Ash and noticed that his mind had been drifting for a while and said, "Pika-pika?"

Pikachu's question jarred Ash and he looked down at his best friend and smiled. "Don't worry, buddy, it's nothin'." Ash could not tell whether his answer was truthful or not. Pikachu, did not seem to believe it was.

"Pi-kachu?" Pikachu challenged.

Ash then slumped into the bench and sighed again. "I don't really know," he eventually answered. "It's like I have a feeling that I shouldn't be here. But I have no idea why? The dream I had was already undone by us, Leaf, and her friends pounding that guy and his cronies in the red-roofed café. More importantly, I was lookin' forward to comin' here ever since Alexa told us about Kalos. Heck, I've even got an upgraded Pokédex, a Mega Ring with Key Stone, and a Mega Stone on my first day here. I've never heard of Mega Evolution before so I should really want to explore this region and challenge the Kalos League as well as learn more about Mega Evolution. And yet, somethin's holding me back. I feel like doing so at this time would be a mistake. And more importantly, I miss home," Ash added quietly.

"Pi-pi-ka?" Pikachu queried, surprised by Ash's admission.

"Yeah, I know," Ash answered, chuckling. "Normally, I can't wait to get away from home and go out on an adventure, which thinking on it now, is strange. But now, it's the complete opposite. I can't wait to get back home and I have no idea why this change has occurred so suddenly." He then sighed again. "I don't know. Maybe I'm over-thinking this."

"Pika," Pikachu answered.

Ash could only smile at his best friend. But still, his mind was drifting off to what he should do once again. He still had no idea if he should challenge the Kalos League or if he should head back home. He was about to rise when he heard the sound of instrumental rock music sounding from a clear screen, which quickly flashed the Pokémon Champions League symbol.

"It's the World Pokémon League Championship Battle!" came an excited voice from what was obviously an advertisement of some sort. "The greatest Pokémon Trainers in the world, and possibly history, will all participate in the battle to end all battles! Champion Trainers including Leaf, Ethan, Brendan, Lucas, Hilda, Lance, and Cynthia; all shall battle for the crown of the World Pokémon League Champion and become the absolute best in all the world! See the best battlers and battles in the history of the Pokémon League in Kiloude City at the Battle Maison in the Kalos Region starting on June eighth! Don't miss it for the world!"

Ash could only smile as he saw the advertisement for the World Pokémon League Championship. He recognized Leaf, Ethan, Lance, and Cynthia's names, having battled Ethan while in Sinnoh and having just battled Leaf a couple hours ago, along with having met both Lance and Cynthia on his previous quests. He had always wanted to battle in the Champions League but this ad had merely reinforced that desire within him. He then looked at the fine print in the ad, which he noted stated that a participant had to win his home League in order to challenge the Champions League. The cinched it for him. He wanted to challenge the Kanto League once more. Kalos could wait.

He then turned towards Pikachu and told him, "Buddy, I've decided. I'm gonna head back home and challenge the Kanto League once more. We never won that League and most of my badges there were 'pity' badges anyway. I wanna beat the Gym Leaders fair and square this time. And I know I can. I'll then challenge the Indigo League and win it for sure. Then, I'll challenge the Elite Four and then head off to challenge the Champions League. And after that, I'll challenge Leaf and beat her," he declared, his voice becoming more confident as he continued to speak. Yes, this was his dream. More importantly, he began to feel as if this was his destiny.

"Pika!" Pikachu answered in encouragement and confidence as he pumped his fist in support of his best friend. With that, Ash then rose, Pikachu jumping back on Ash's shoulder, and he departed the bench, heading towards the east so he could get to the Lumiose Airport and get back to Kanto, hopefully in time for his birthday, for he still wanted to visit home before re-challenging the Kanto League.

He hailed a Lumi Cab taxi, raising his hand and he waited for a few seconds for a car to arrive. After those few seconds, a car pulled up next to him and the passenger side door opened, revealing a driver in his late thirties to early forties. "Where to?" he asked.

"The Lumiose Airport," Ash answered as he hopped into the car. The door then closed and the cab drove him to the Lumiose Airport.

When the cab arrived at the Lumiose Airport, Ash looked out the window excitedly. He wondered just why he was so excited to head home since he had never been this excited to head home before, especially after just arriving from home in order to go on an adventure. Still, he felt as if this was the path he was meant to tread.

When the car pulled up to the entry gate, the car stopped and the driver looked back at Ash. "That'll be four thousand Poké Dollars," he said casually.

Ash nodded and got out the fare. "Thanks," he told the driver as he paid him the fare, giving the driver a tip as well. He did not know if it was customary to do that in Kalos but he felt that it was better to err on the side of safety. With that, Ash then went into the airport terminal.

Inside the terminal, Ash went up to a screen that listed the airlines and scanned the airlines for any that had flights to the Kanto Region of Japan. He would have preferred a supersonic flight, but he would make do with a sub-sonic flight if needed. Besides, supersonic flights were noticeably more expensive than standard flights. When he found an airline that traveled all the way to the Kanto Region of Japan, he rushed over to the terminal desk. When he arrived, he was surprised to find no line. When he and Pikachu arrived, they were greeted by a young woman with brown hair and green eyes sitting behind the desk.

"Hello, welcome to Fire Red Airlines. How may I help you?"

"Hi, I want a ticket for the earliest available flight that leaves for the Kanto Region of," Ash answered.

"Well, you're in luck. We have a flight leaving in about half an hour with a couple seats left. It's in first class, though, and will be at full price. You'll also have to hurry and go through the Full Security Scan if you wish to make it in time." The full security scan was where several Psychic-type Pokémon scanned a person that was going to board an airplane, along with any Pokémon that may have been going with the flier. It was not often chosen since the scans performed by the Pokémon were deep scans. All of a flier's personal information could be revealed during a scan and it was seen by many as a breach of privacy. Nothing about the person was kept secret during such a scan. Still, it did allow one to quickly go through security, for if there were a threat, it would instantly be detected by the Psychic-type Pokémon.

"How much?" Ash asked, indicating that money would not be too much of a problem for this.

"Seventy-five hundred Poké Dollars for a one-way trip."

"Great, I'll take the one-way trip," Ash answered, interrupting the service woman. He then paid for the ticket and took it. Once he had received the ticket, he made his way over to the security checkpoint so he could be scanned.

When he approached the security checkpoint, he found that that it was monitored by two armed security officers and two Alakazams. He approached them, opening his mind and doing nothing to hide his intentions from them. When he approached one of the officers held out his hand and asked, "Do you want the pat down, to go through the scanner, or do you want the Full Security Scan?"

"I'll take the Full Security Scan," Ash answered.

The officers' eyes went wide in surprise. Almost no one went through the Full Security Scan because of how invasive it was. The officers then nodded and looked back, indicating that the full array of Psychic-type Pokémon should come and scan him. After a few seconds, out came a Hypno, a Gardevoir, and two Espeons. Ash and Pikachu cleared their minds and Ash let out his other Pokémon as the security detail began their scans. The scans lasted less than a second, each of them then turning towards the security officers, the hand of each one hovering over their side arm, and nodding, indicating that Ash and the rest of his Pokémon team was clean and that he was safe.

"Okay, sir, you may pass," the officers said, giving Ash a security pass.

"Thanks," Ash answered as he returned his Pokémon to their Poké Balls, save for Pikachu, and headed down the corridor.

He ran down the corridor towards his plane, hoping to make the final boarding call before the gate closed. He checked his watch and found that he was cutting it close as the gate came into view. He waved his ticket as he rushed towards the boarding gate. As he approached the gate, he saw two additional security officers standing by the gate. Next to them was an Alakazam. When he reached them, he stopped, presenting his ticket and his security pass, showing that he had gotten through security cleanly. He also allowed the Alakazam to scan him to assure them that he had gone through security and had no hostile intentions. Once Alakazam had finished its scan, it turned to the security officers and nodded.

"Okay, everything checks out, sir," they told him. "You may board."

"Thanks," Ash answered as he rushed past the officers and went through the gate mere seconds before it closed.

He made his way through the gate and boarded the plane, looking down at his ticket to see where his seat was. He quickly made his way up to first class and managed to find his seat. When he found his seat, he was surprised to find that he was sitting next to none other than Leaf, who had the window seat, reading a datapad.

"Wow, fancy meetin' you here," he said jovially as he looked down at the girl.

Leaf merely smiled. "So we meet again, Ash Ketchum. Which seat would you prefer?"

"My ticket says I have the aisle seat," Ash answered.

"But is that the seat you want?" Leaf asked.

"It's fine," Ash answered.

Leaf then nodded and got back to reading her datapad.

Placing his bags in the compartment above, Ash then took his seat next to Leaf. There, he relaxed as the captain spoke over the speaker, saying, "This is your captain speaking. We are beginning takeoff. Please make sure that your seatbelts are fastened and that your trays are in their upright and locked position."

He then fastened his seatbelt and made certain that his tray was locked in its upright position. Once that was done, he sat back in his seat and relaxed as best he could, hoping to get some sleep during the long trip to Kanto.

Meanwhile, back in Lumiose City, Lysandre was leaving the police station as he managed to make bond, along with his lawyer and a couple of Admins from his organization. He walked out confidently, for he knew that, despite the evidence against him and the testimony of the Steels, that they were answering an ad for the GS Ball from Lysandre Labs, itself, there was reasonable doubt as to his culpability in the crimes committed by his organization. His lawyer had said as much as well. There was no way that they would get the charges to stick due to the fact that the Malamar that was found with him was one of three Malamars that had been known to use mind control to control their victims for their own ends, even having them commit horrific crimes, including murder. It would be easy to pin everything on the Malamar Trio, especially since they were now dead.

Lysandre rode in his car back to Lysandre Labs, where once he arrived, he departed his car and nonchalantly strode into the orange roofed café. Inside, he was met by Malva and Xerosic. As soon s he had entered, one of the workers at the counter went up to the window and turned the sign around to indicate the café was now closed. In addition, he also locked the door and closed the shades, giving the impression that no one was inside.

Once everything was closed, he looked over at Xerosic and Malva and grimaced. "To think that months of work and planning has been undone in mere minutes," he lamented. "It was almost as if they knew about our plans and goals."

"I'm not so certain about that, sir," Xerosic interjected. "The girl and her friends seemed more interested in the fleeing Malamar than us. Chances were that they were alerted to the Malamar Trio's attack on them and they didn't notice us until the Celebi was mentioned by the Steels."

"I'm with Xerosic," Malva echoed. "They did not seem all that interested in us at all. The Malamar was what they were after, and likely because the Malamar Trio that was being trained decided to go after them."

"The question is why the Malamars would go after a girl, a bounty hunter, an ape, and a monkey," Xerosic wondered. "What threat could they have been to them, or the team?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Malva retorted. "They killed the Malamars and stopped our plans before they ever got off the ground."

"None of that matters right now," Lysandre interjected. "The police know that we were trying to take a Celebi. Given the events that occurred in Crown City in the Sinnoh Region, chances are that they knew that we were trying to get access to Celebi's powers so we could see the future. They are already investigating the lab and will likely find out about our other less savory projects as well."

"Sir, if I may say, though, we may have an out for them, too," Xerosic volunteered.

"I know," Lysandre answered, nodding. "That's the only good thing about that surviving Malamar coming to us. It provided us the cover we need to get out of this and since it's now dead, along with the other members of the Trio, we can simply say that we're free and will no longer be any trouble."

"But there's no way we can risk continuing the plans and creation of Team Flare at the moment," Malva stated in a concerned tone. "We're going to be under a microscope for a very long time."

Lysandre stroked his beard. "Perhaps, there is something we _can_ do," he said thoughtfully.

"What would that be, sir?" Malva asked.

"Perhaps, we can try to help the world the normal way without having to destroy it," came the Team Flare Boss's answer. "It will likely fail and Team Flare will be necessary for our goals to be achieved, but it will put us back into Kalos's good graces. And when their focus is away from us, we will create Team Flare for real, and find a way to create a beautiful world. Until then, we stay out of sight." He then turned to Malva. "Malva, you will have to go back to the Elite Four. You will keep me apprised of the situation regarding them and keep their eyes away from Lysandre Labs and Team Flare, once we revive the team." Next he turned to Xerosic. "Xerosic, you are going to be the lab's chief scientist. In addition, I need to know how many more Malamars you have."

"None, Lysandre," Xerosic answered. "All I have is an Inkay, and he is not really much of a battler as of yet. He seems more interested in making friends than fighting. He's not a Team Flare caliber Pokémon. I could train him to be a battler, but he won't have the mind controlling abilities that the Malamar Trio had. They were a once in a lifetime find."

"We'll have to make do with that, then," Lysandre answered. "Team Flare will rise, and one day, we will create our beautiful world. Until that day, we must wait, observe, and prepare."

The other two nodded in agreement. Once the discussion had concluded, Lysandre and Xerosic headed back into the lab to begin their work again while Malva left the lab so she could go back to the Elite Four to keep tabs on them and the Champion, Diantha.

Over in Vaniville Town, in the Sky Trainer Academy, Serena sat in her dorm room, reading up on study materials while the television played in the background. She had a lot of catching up to do due to the time she had taken off while under the influence of the Malamar Cult, which had mysteriously vanished early in the morning, which was what had prompted her to come back to the academy in the first place. So far, though, her classes had gone well and she found that she was not nearly as far behind as she had feared. While there was still a lot of work for her to get caught up, if she worked hard, she would know everything she needed in time for exams.

After finishing a section of her textbook on the tactics of aerial battles when facing Ground/Rock-type Pokémon, she looked up at the television screen and saw the familiar face of the reporter Alexa on the screen. She appeared to be giving a breaking story, so she turned up the volume as she watched.

"This is Alexa, reporting from the Lysandre Café in Magenta Plaza in Lumiose City," the reporter began. The mention of the Lysandre Café caused Serena to scowl in disgust for reasons that she did not understand. She shook it off as the report continued. "Information is still sketchy at the moment but what is known is that a battle that began on a back street in an abandoned building in the northern part of the city ended here at the Lysandre Café earlier in the morning. Heroic Pokémon Trainers Leaf and Ash Ketchum," Serena's ears perked up at the name of Ash Ketchum, "along with two sentient simians named Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, as well as a bounty hunter named Captain Falcon came here and stopped the transfer of a Mythical Pokémon, Celebi, from two thieves to the hands of Lysandre, who is suspected of having been under the control of three Malamars, two of who died in battle against Leaf and her friends at the building in the north, with the third falling while inside Lysandre Labs."

The mention of the three Malamars also perked her interest, but she also had a feeling that, while the Malamars were, indeed, evil, that they were not controlling Lysandre at all. She then continued to listen to Alexa. "Witnesses reported, with some recordings from bystanders, showing, that the heroic group followed the surviving Malamar to the lab and pursued it inside, where security cameras show the battles between Leaf and Malva of the Elite Four," the news then showed the recordings of Leaf battling, and badly beating, Malva, "as well as Ash dealing with Lysandre," the television showing Ash, Pikachu, and Charizard battling Lysandre and dealing with him easily.

Serena's eyes flashed as she caught sight of Ash, her memory instantly going back to the first time they had met at Professor Oak's Summer Camp. She smiled as she saw him beat Lysandre, free Celebi, who teleported away from the scene, and then the rest of the group take out the remaining Malamar. Alexa then continued, "It has recently been confirmed that the three Malamars that died were the same Malamars believed to be responsible for a string of thefts and even some attempted murders in Lumiose City as well as in some of the surroundings cities and towns. Many residents are already saying that they will sleep better at night now that the Malamars' threat has been eliminated."

Serena then turned off the television and smiled, her mind drifting back to memories of Ash. He was nice and had helped her after she had injured her knee after being startled by a Poliwag. She then thought back to the image of another girl, who had been less than pleased that Ash had been late to the meeting, though she had lightened up a bit when she saw that Ash had helped her. Serena figured that from the way the girl had talked to Ash, that they were related in some way.

She then proceeded to leave the dorm room to go down to the cafeteria to get some dinner. As she did so, she overheard some other students talking with one another about the events of the day. "Man, did you hear about that battle in Professor Sycamore's Pokémon Lab earlier today?" a boy a year ahead of Serena asked an underclassman.

"Yeah," the underclassman answered. "I've even seen a recording of it. I had no idea Mega Evolutions could be so powerful. That Ash kid came closer than anyone to beating Leaf."

"Yeah, but we all know that if the battle ended on the fainting, that Leaf's Venusaur would have likely pulled it off," the upperclassman said.

"Maybe," the underclassman admitted. "But you never know. Neither Pokémon fainted when the battle ended, so who knows what would have happened if Charizard fired off another Fire Blast or launched a Wing Attack on Venusaur after they both returned to normal?"

"You got a point there," the upperclassman admitted. The two then laughed and continued on their way, talking about other things.

As for Serena, she merely smiled. _So Ash, you gave Leaf a run_ , she thought. _One day, Ash, I will become a Champion and when I do, I will go to Kanto and challenge you to a battle_. She grinned as she found her dream to be taking shape. She would continue to study here, as well as train in Rhyhorn Racing at home during the summer. Then, after graduating from the Sky Trainer Academy, she would go on her own Pokémon journey, become the Kalos League Champion, and then challenge Ash. As she continued down the hall, she resolved to herself to study hard so that her dreams would become reality, and that she could fulfill her destiny.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Serena, Ash, Leaf, or the other Chosen Heroes, a man, John, was sitting at a desk inside a room inside the luxurious Hotel Richissime. He was clad in a black bodysuit with a flak jacket and helmet sitting on a chair next to him. On the desk was a computer that had multiple images on it, each showing different scenes in real time. He watched as Lysandre went to work inside Lysandre Labs but did not show any reaction. The threat that Lysandre had posed was neutralized, for a time. He knew that Serena and her friends would eventually have to deal with him, but that was as it had been, and how it would be. And now that the Malamar Cult had been destroyed and Celebi safely evacuated from Kalos, Lysandre would not be able to identify Serena and her friends as a threat until it was too late and they had already started on their Pokémon journey. And by that time, it would already be too late since without Celebi or the Malamar Cult, there would be no way for him to change the past.

He then focused his gaze on Serena, who was studying at the Sky Trainer Academy. He smiled once again. Indeed, this was who Serena really was. She was a Pokémon Trainer and would one day be the Kalos Champion, not an idol. He even chuckled as he saw her watch an idol performance with some friends and have to actively prevent herself from cringing at the so-called cute performance of the idols on the screen. He could tell in her heart that she was a warrior. She would fight so that others could live in freedom and safety. And he knew that she would be a formidable Trainer.

The last image he focused his attention on was Ash and Leaf headed towards the Kanto Region of Japan. He had watched the news reports of Ash, Leaf, the Kongs, and Captain Falcon defeating Lysandre and the Malamar Cult. His plan could not have gone better if he had scripted it as a movie or novel, himself. He had watched the Mega Evolution battle with satisfaction, especially as he saw Ash handle Mega Charizard Y, despite the fact that his moveset would have been more suited for Mega Charizard X. He was pleased that Ash recognized this and would teach Charizard some Special moves. It appeared as if the time reset did more for Ash than just give him a second chance at life. It also seemed to be helping him recover more of his true self. He may even begin regaining some of his memories. John smiled warmly as he watched Ash rest, and his, still unbeknownst to him, twin sister stare at him and smile warmly.

"Now, all is right with the world," he sighed.

"It most certainly is," came a dark voice from behind.

John could feel a gust of wind and hear the sounds reminiscent of a distant storm. He scowled and turned around, seeing none other than Ganondorf standing behind him. The Gerudo King then approached, grinning evilly.

"What are you doing here, Ganondorf?" John asked coldly.

"Making sure you don't forget why you're here," the Gerudo King answered, looking at the screen. "What are you looking at?"

"I'm making my final checks to ensure that everything is going as it should," John answered in a cold tone, indicating that the Gerudo King should not pry.

Ganondorf took a look at the scenes and saw the images of Lysandre working, Serena studying, and Ash and Leaf traveling back to Kanto. "Can't seem to help but notice that you're tracking your kids," the Gerudo King noted, focusing on the scene of Ash and Leaf. He then looked over at John and gave a dark grin. "I can't help but wonder if you still have some attachments left in this world."

"Don't worry, Ganondorf, I have none," John answered darkly. "My loyalty is to Master Hand, and Master Hand _alone_. And I don't see why you're worried about this, considering my actions in saving the Earth are why you currently have the Triforce of Power in your hand."

"Heh, that's true," the Gerudo King admitted, showing him the back of his hand. Immediately at triple triangle appeared on his hand, with the bottom two triangles being empty, only outlines showing, but the upper triangle was filled in, glowing a bright gold. "And most fortuitous it was that you were able to touch it. Still, I can't help but wonder why it was that the Triforce could not grant your wish, but still split apart after a while, and why I have it now, despite the events that led up to your wish having been undone."

"A similar event happened for you in the past, did it not?" John replied, speaking of Ganondorf getting the Triforce of Power just before he was to be executed for attempting to gain hold of the Triforce and take over the Kingdom of Hyrule, after the Hero of Time had returned from an alternate future where Ganondorf had managed to acquire the Triforce and warn the King of Hyrule in time to stop his plans.

"Why yes, it did," Ganondorf answered. He then continued to stare at the screen, particularly at the scene of Ash and Leaf, and grinned, which caused John to scowl. "Are you _sure_ you don't have any attachments left in this world?"

"None," John assured him darkly, lying through is teeth in the process.

It did not matter to Ganondorf. He then turned around and stepped back through the portal. As he did so, he looked back at John and called, "Master Hand wishes for you to report back to him as soon as possible and give your report."

"Tell him I'm coming," John answered.

With that, Ganondorf stepped through the portal and disappeared, the portal not vanishing just yet. John then gathered his belongings and turned off the computer, making sure to close out all programs so that Ganondorf would not suspect that he did still have attachments on Earth. Once everything was ready, he then stepped through the portal to Smash World. The moment he stepped through the portal, the portal vanished, leaving no evidence of John, or Ganondorf's, previous presence on Earth.

Back in the air, Ash awoke during the flight. Looking out the window, he could tell that it was night, so the flight still had a ways to go before it landed in Japan. Before going back to sleep, he looked to his right and saw Pikachu resting beside him, the electric rodent breathing softly. He looked to be quite relaxed. Ash smiled. He then turned to see Leaf sleeping in the seat next to him as well, the soft sounds of the Jazz music that she played over her headphones still active. A part of him wanted to turn off the music so she could rest more soundly, but he felt that if he did so, he would actually be disturbing her, instead. He did not know why he felt that way, but he could feel a connection to her, one that was anything but romantic. He stared at her and smiled.

That was when Leaf opened her eyes and turned to Ash, causing him to quickly turn away. She smiled as she caught that last vestiges of motion from his turn. Then, it was her turn to stare at the boy as she smiled. "So, what are your plans once you get home?" she asked.

"I'm gonna rechallenge the Kanto League and win it," Ash proclaimed confidently.

Leaf took one look at him and grinned in return, nodding in affirmation. "Yeah, I can tell," she stated. "You're different from before. Train hard and you'll win, without a doubt," she declared.

"Yeah," Ash affirmed. With that, the two got back to resting until the plane reached Kanto. All the while, the duo had not noticed that their exchange had awakened Pikachu, who quietly watched the short conversation between the two pre-teens. As he watched, he could not help but notice that there was more than a passing resemblance between Ash and Leaf. Even their smells were not all that dissimilar. He thought nothing more of it and then went back to sleep for the rest of the flight.

The duo awakened to the sound of a ding sounded over the cabin's speaker, the duo slowly opening their eyes. They looked around as they then heard the pilot's voice come in over the speaker. "This is your captain speaking. We are fifteen minutes away from the Pallet Airport. There may be some turbulence as we make our descent so please fasten your safety belts and enjoy the rest of the flight."

Ash and Leaf followed the captain's prompts and clicked their seatbelts in place. They then went to think about the meeting in Kalos, the events there, their gaining of Mega Rings, Key Stones, as well as Mega Stones for their Pokémon and grinned. It had been a productive trip for the both of them, even though they had gone to Kalos for very different reasons.

It did not take too much longer for the plane to begin its approach to the airport. The plane began its descent and both Ash and Leaf looked out the window, eagerly awaiting touch down so that they could disembark and be on their way. Ash wanted to get home as quickly as possible, for he saw the rising sun, ushering in his birthday. While it was his birthday, he could not help but feel that the happiest person would be his mother when he went home.

Soon, the plane began to descend and the airport came into view. After a bit, the group felt the cabin shudder ever so slightly as the plane touched down on the runway. After a while, the plane eventually slowed and came to a stop.

"We have arrived at the Pallet Airport in the Kanto Region of Japan," the captain's voice sounded over the loudspeaker. "You may begin disembarking to the port side exits. We thank you for choosing Fire Red Airlines and hope you have enjoyed your flight. We hope you will fly us again."

Ash and Leaf then rose and reached up to the overhead baggage compartment and opened it. Reaching in, they grabbed their backpacks, each of them taking out their Poké Balls inside, clipping them to their belts, with Pikachu jumping up onto Ash's shoulder. As one, they then slung the bags over their shoulders and then proceeded to follow the closest line to disembark from the plane.

Getting through the lines and security was tedious but they were still able to leave earlier than almost everyone else since all they had brought were their carry on bags and, thus, were able to skip the baggage claim. Once they had gotten through security, they made their way over to a central rest area for the airport. Once they did so, they glanced at each other once more and smiled.

"Well, I guess this is where we part ways for a time," Leaf stated.

"I guess," Ash answered hesitantly, not wanting Leaf to leave just yet.

"Just remember what you have learned during your past adventures and build a team of six strong Pokémon with some backups as well," Leaf told him. "Do that and you should be able to win the Kanto League, if not the World Pokémon League Championship. You have the necessary tools at your disposal already. All you have to do now is use them properly."

"I will," Ash assured her.

Then, the two parted ways, Ash heading towards the airport's exit while Leaf seemed to head towards another terminal. Ash did not know if she was staying in Kanto or if she was heading out on another flight, and he was not worried about that right now. All he wanted to do was get home to his mother so he could celebrate his birthday and prepare for his next journey, which probably wouldn't begin for another week or two. He wanted to stay home and catch up with his mother before heading out again. He also made note to make sure that he constantly stayed in contact with her during his next journey since he had not been so good about that on his two previous journeys.

After exiting the airport, he proceeded to take out his map, since it had been quite a while since he had come to this airport. When he did so, he was quickly able to get his bearings and then put the map away, turning towards the west. Once he was ready, he proceeded to run off into the distance, away from the airport and towards his house. He wanted to give his mother the best surprise of her life.

He followed the road until it came to a hill that overlooked Pallet Town proper. Pallet Town was a small town, with only a few notable structures, though it was also home to Professor Samuel Oak and his laboratory where he studied Pokémon and where Trainers would keep any excess Pokémon for training and research. Ash did not stop to take in the scenery. Instead, he spied his home off in the distance and went to make a dash for it.

It did not take long for Ash to reach his house. As he approached his house, he slowed down a bit only to catch his breath. As he did so, Pikachu jumped down off of his shoulder and walked side by side with Ash as he went up to his front porch. There, sitting on a glider, was a package directly addressed to Ash, himself. Looking at it quizzically, surprised that someone would be sending him something at his home address when his trip home had been spur of the moment, he picked it up and examined it. Pikachu also came and examined it. The note on the box read, _Happy Birthday Ash_.

"Pikapi, pi-ka-chu?" Pikachu asked, wondering what it was.

"I don't know," Ash answered. "But it looks like a birthday present."

He then opened the package and inside, he found several CD cases, each with a CD-like disc inside. Each of the cases was labeled as well, the most noticeable labels being _TM 13_ , _TM 22_ , _TM 26_ , _TM 32_ , _TM 35_ , _TM 38_ , _TM 52_ , _TM 53_ , and _TM 71_. They were also labeled with the respective moves that the Technical Machines all taught. Ash could only chuckle. TMs were not in common use anymore, especially since Move Tutors were not too hard to find at the moment and many Trainers liked teaching Pokémon moves on their own. In older days, though, they had been very common and even today, did still find some use. Thinking back to his Mega Evolution battle with Leaf, he figured that he had the perfect use for some of those TMs. In fact, he began to wonder if it was, indeed, Leaf who had sent him those TMs. As it was now, though, he simply put the TMs in his backpack and proceeded to check to see if the door was open. Gripping the knob, he turned and found it to be unlocked. He then pushed the door open and went on in, Pikachu following him.

When he got inside, he saw that the living room was clean, too clean. Also, despite it being midday, the house seemed a little dark, almost as if someone were planning a…

"Surprise!" he then heard the voice of his mother and two other familiar voices cry as a small banner appeared above the doorway leading to the kitchen that said _Happy 12_ _th_ _Birthday Ash_.

Staring at them, he saw his mother, her eyes wide with joy, along with two of his best friends and previous traveling companions, May and Dawn. May was wearing a new outfit, a red tank top over a black sleeveless undershirt with a white skirt over dark blue bike shorts. Dawn, on the other hand, was wearing her usual outfit, a sleeveless black mini dress with an incredibly short black and pink miniskirt along with long pink boots. Standing next to Dawn was a small blue penguin-like Pokémon called Piplup.

"Happy birthday!" the trio cried exuberantly. May and Dawn then approached Ash with mischievous smiles and began to sing a jazzy rendition of "Happy Birthday" to him, dancing and clapping to the song as they sang. Ash merely stared at them blankly in surprise before he smiled almost reflexively. Despite the performance being impromptu, and the two having no real experience in music, and no aspirations for entering the music industry, they showed definite talent. Delia merely watched and smiled, having to suppress a chuckle as she noticed Ash's blank stare. When they finished their song, they both sided up next to the boy and cried exuberantly, "Happy birthday, Ash!"

"Uh, wow, thanks," he stammered, still smiling at the performance, keenly aware of the closeness of the two beautiful girls that had just sung _Happy Birthday_ for him. Pikachu laughed as Ash tried, and failed, to form a coherent sentence. Ash was speechless and felt nothing but joy at the sight of his mother and friends. This was everything he needed. "How'd you know I was coming? My decision to come back home was spur of the moment."

"We actually came trying to catch you before you headed off to Kalos," May answered. "Looks like we actually got here in the nick of time to throw a surprise party for you, instead."

"But how did you know I was coming back?" Ash asked again.

"Right when we got here, your mom received a phone call saying that you had decided to come back from Kalos but that you wanted it to be a surprise," Dawn answered.

"Who called?" Ash asked.

"A man with a muffled voice, like a voice coming from a Federation Marine," Delia answered. While she did not say it, she could not help but think that she had recognized the voice of the man who had called. "Anyway, the cake should be done not too long from now. I'll go fix something for dinner. I know it's early, but if you'd like to stay around, I can whip something up for all of you." That last bit was directed more towards May and Dawn, since she knew Ash would be staying for a while

"Thanks Mrs. Ketchum," May and Dawn answered.

All the while, Pikachu and Piplup had quickly spotted one another and when they did, they immediately greeted each other.

"Piplup!" Piplup cried.

"Pi-Kachu!" Pikachu answered as he greeted Piplup. Turning to Dawn, he then added, "Pi Pikaka!" Dawn gave Pikachu a nod, but quickly went back to her discussion with Ash.

As the group was talking, Ash wanted his other Pokémon to take part in the celebration. He grabbed his Poké Balls and tossed them into air, calling "Okay everyone, come on out!"

The Poké Balls then opened and out came Charizard, who was still wearing his Mega Stone, Froakie, Fletchling, and Hawlucha. The three newcomers each looked around, not recognizing Ash's house, though Charizard was quite familiar with it, having been with Ash for quite some time. Ash then went to introduce the new Pokémon to May and Dawn. "This is May and Dawn," he told them, pointing out each girl. "They're two of my best friends."

Both May and Dawn then took out their Pokédexes and tried to look them up, but could not find any information on them. Eventually, May asked, "Are they from Kalos?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah. This is Froakie, the Water Starter of the Kalos Region, then Fletchling, and Hawlucha," the boy pointing out each Pokémon as he introduced them.

"Hi," the girls said to the Pokémon. The Pokémon then said hello to the two girls in return.

"So, May, Dawn, how long are you two staying?"

"We'll be here in Pallet Town for a while," Dawn answered. "We came here to visit, but we're not doing anything too special at the moment. I just won the Sinnoh Grand Festival, barely beating out Zoey. I wouldn't have won if I didn't knock out her Pokémon, though," she added.

"Well, battles are an important part of Contests," Ash told her, smiling, thrilled that Dawn was fulfilling her dreams. "And you May?" he asked, turning to May.

"I won the Hoenn Grand Festival not too long ago, too," May answered. "In fact, I'm thinking about going on a Badge collecting journey pretty soon."

"Me too," Dawn added.

Delia soon came out, her smile at seeing her son not vanishing at all. "So Ash, how was Kalos?" she asked.

"It was fine," Ash answered.

"Okay," Delia began. "But may I ask why you came home so quickly? Did Kalos have a Pokémon League?" While Delia was delighted to see her son so soon after his departure, a part was worried that something was wrong. Ash had never come home early from a region before, and she could not help but notice the necklace and stone that Charizard was wearing. He must have gotten something while in Kalos. She also noticed Ash's own Mega Ring, though she did not know what it was.

Ash was surprised by his mother's line of questioning. He had expected her to simply be delighted with his visit. "I'm fine Mom," Ash answered. "And yes, there was a League there."

"So what made you come back to Kanto?" he heard Dawn ask.

Ash stopped and thought about the question for a moment. He could read between the lines and he knew that they knew that it was not like him to come home from a region without challenging the League. After thinking about the question, he gave his answer. "I guess it's because I have unfinished business in Kanto. I never won the Indigo League and I've been challenging all of these other Leagues without ever finishing the Indigo League and winning that. That, and I also met Leaf, who is the current Kanto League Champion."

"You met Leaf?" both May and Dawn blurted in unison. "She's world famous!"

"She's said to be the best Pokémon Trainer in the world," May added. "It's said that she beat a Trainer of Legendary Pokémon named Tobias six to zero."

Ash thought back to his own battle against a Legendary Trainer with the same name. If the Trainer that Leaf had beaten was the same one, then she was impressive, indeed. He could not help but have the feeling that he had experienced her power firsthand, though it may have just been in a dream. He, May, and Dawn then got back to talking, the girls letting out their own Pokémon to mingle with Ash's. He then continued to talk to the two beautiful girls as they wanted to hear all about his adventure in Kalos, as well as his adventure in the Decalore Islands on his way back to Kanto from Unova, with May being interested in his Unova trip as well. As they got to talking, all Ash could think was that things were finally as they should be. He was home.

Meanwhile, watching from the top of the hill overlooking Professor Oak's lab, as well as Ash's house, Leaf stood with her six Pokémon friends as Ash had gotten the package and gone inside. She had not seen May and Dawn enter the house, though her twin bond with Ash informed her that he was now talking with his two friends and enjoying their company. She also knew that they were staying for an early dinner and birthday cake. She had almost giggled when she had sensed Ash's reaction to their singing of "Happy Birthday". Nodding in satisfaction, she proceeded to make her way down from the hill and continued on her own journey.


End file.
